Alvar. Nay, speak out! 'twill ease your heart This lady knows not. You are a mighty wizard 141 To call him villain !—Why stand'st thou Can call the dead man up-he will not aghast? Men think it natural to hate their rivals. Ordonio (hesitating). Now, till she knows him dead, she will not wed me. Merciful Alvar (with eager vehemence). Are you Not wedded to Teresa? Ordonio. 120 come. He is in heaven then-there you have no influence. Still there are tokens-and your imps may bring you Something he wore about him when he died. And when the smoke of the incense on the altar Why, what ails thee? Is pass'd, your spirits will have left this What, art thou mad? why look'st thou picture. You had conn'd your lesson, made your- (For I have arranged it-Music, Altar, sage, A golden crop! Well, you have not And here, what you will value more, a Ordonio. If we could make her certain of his death, She needs must wed me. Ere her lover She tied a little portrait round his neck, Alvar (sighing). Yes! he did so! At midnight! on my knees! and I believed Ordonio. Why no: he was afraid of Thee perjur'd, thee a traitress! thee dis And thrilling hands, that made me weep Were taught him in a dream. Him we Stretch'd on the broad top of a sunny heath-bank : And lower down poor Alvar, fast asleep, His head upon the blind boy's dog. It pleas'd me II To mark how he had fasten'd round the pipe A silver toy his grandam had late given him. Methinks I see him now as he then look'd Even so He had outgrown his infant dress, Yet still he wore it. Alvar. My tears must not flow! I must not clasp his knees, and cry, My father! Enter TERESA and Attendants. Teresa. Lord Valdez, you have asked my presence here, And I submit ; but (Heaven bear witness for me) My heart approves it not! 'tis mockery. Ordonio. Believe you then no preternatural influence : 21 Believe you not that spirits throng around us? Teresa. Say rather that I have imagined it A possible thing: and it has sooth'd my soul As other fancies have; but ne'er seduced me To traffic with the black and frenzied hope That the dead hear the voice of witch or wizard. [To ALVAR. Stranger, I mourn and blush to see you here, On such employment! With far other thoughts I left you. 30 Ordonio (aside). Ha! he has been tampering with her? Alvar. O high-soul'd Maiden! and Than suits the Stranger's name !— The ice mount! and with fragments many Once more to hear thy voice, once more Tempest the new-thaw'd sea, whose and huge sudden gulphs wizard's skiff ! to see thee, 'twere a joy to me! Alvar. A joy to thee! Suck in, perchance, some Lapland What if thou heard'st him now? What if his spirit Then round and round the whirlpool's Re-enter'd it's cold corse, and came upon With many a stab from many a murderer's 90 Teresa. 'Tis strange, I tremble at my own conjectures! poniard ? What (if his stedfast Eye still beaming But whatsoe'er it mean, I dare no longer Pity Be present at these lawless mysteries, And Brother's love) he turn'd his head This dark Provoking of the Hidden aside, Powers! Lest he should look at thee, and with Already I affront-if not high HeavenYet Alvar's Memory !-Hark! I make appeal one look Hurl thee beyond all power of Penitence? 120 Against the unholy rite, and hasten hence To bend before a lawful Shrine, and seek That voice which whispers, when the still Heart listens, Comfort and faithful Hope! Let us re tire. Alvar (to Teresa anxiously). O full of faith and guileless love, thy Spirit Still prompts thee wisely. Let the pangs of guilt Surprize the guilty: thou art innocent ! [Exeunt TERESA and Attendant. Music as before. Stands here before thee—a father's bless- The spell is mutter'd-Come, thou waning on him! He is most virtuous. dering Shape, Who own'st no Master in a human eye, Alvar (still to Ordonio). What, if his Whate'er be this man's doom, fair be it, very virtues or foul, 130 Had pampered his swoln heart and If he be dead, O come! and bring with made him proud? thee And what if Pride had duped him into That which he grasp'd in death! But if all! [At this instant the doors are forced That picture-Oh, that picture tells me Monviedro, First seize the sorcerer! The holy judges of the Inquisition Plain evidence have we here of most 140 There is a dungeon underneath this castle, Ordonio (recovering himself as from [All rush out in tumult. SCENE II Interior of a Chapel, with painted Enter TERESA. Teresa. When first I entered this pure spot, forebodings With a flash of light it came, in flames it vanished, Self-kindled, self-consum'd: bright as thy Life, Sudden and unexpected as thy Fate, Teresa. Torture me not! But Alvar--- Valdez. How often would He plead for 20 Are Fancy's wild Hopes to a heart despairing! Teresa. These rays that slant in through those gorgeous windows, From yon bright orb-though coloured as they pass, Press'd heavy on my heart: but as I Are they not Light ?-Even so that voice, |