“Speak on!” said the king.
“He will not speak!” said Elvira; “he will not make a liar of Nature, who is telling the truth for him in his cheeks and eyes! Look, monsters, the tears are coming to his eyes. Oh holy drops, ye should be treasured among saintly relics—ye shall be balm to these parched and thirsty lips!” And here the queen bent to the earth, and kissed the tear-drops on the ground, which had fallen from Fernando’s eyes.
“Fernando, speak!” said Garcia.
In a voice broken by sobs and terror, Fernando began to say that he had seen Don Pedro stealing by night to the queen’s chamber, when he was interrupted by Elvira, who again clung to him with frantic earnestness.
“Thou sawest it not! Oh, say thou sawest it not! My boy, the heavy wrath of God will fall upon thee if thou dost not unsay this fearful falsehood. I am not cursing thee, but I would avert the curse. Thou MUST unsay it. It is not possible mine own flesh could all rebel against me. What is it has bewitched thee, Fernando, to do what devils would leave undone? Dost thou know what thou art doing to me? They will burn thy poor mother in the market-place for an adulteress! Thou wilt give thy mother to die in the torments of the damned—thy mother, that never crossed thee in thy ways—that fed thee with the milk of her breasts—that rejoiced in thy beauty. Oh, my God! oh, my God! have pity upon me, and soften this boy’s heart!” said she, looking up for a moment, and then coaxingly fawning upon Fernando, with a faint smile upon her features. She continued—“My child! my pretty boy Fernando! wilt thou not unsay those wicked words? Ah, let me kiss thee, and say I forgive thee, and we shall be mother and son together for the rest of our days in some far off place out of the ways of these people. I will love thee better than they, Fernando. They are killing thy soul now, and they will kill thy body after, as they are killing mine, if thou dost not hearken to me. Oh, that I might have life and length of days, only to be away with thee where I could look into thy blue eyes and play with thy golden curls from morning till night. Oh, child, have mercy upon me!”
“Mother!” cried Fernando, throwing himself upon the queen’s neck, “forgive me, and I will unsay all!”
Elvira wound her arms about the infante’s form, kissed him without saying a word, and fainted at his feet.
“Her artifices have prevailed with the boy,” said Garcia, with ill-dissembled rage, “but the testimony of others is not to be thus overborne.”
“Wilt thou enter the lists against her champion, if any dare to defend her with his sword?” said the king.
Garcia was silent.