1

Alv. The more behoves it, I should rouse within

him
Remorse! that I should save him from himself.

Zul. Remorse is as the heart in which it grows:
If that be gentle, it drops balmy dews
Of true repentance; but if proud and gloomy,
It is a poison-tree, that pierced to the inmost
Weeps only tears of poison.
Alv.

And of a brother, Dare I hold this, unproved ? nor make one effort To save him ?--Hear me, friend! I have yet to tell

thee,
That this same life, which he conspired to take,
Himself once rescued from the angry flood,
And at the imminent hazard of his own.
Add too my oath-
Zul.

You have thrice told already
The
years

of absence and of secrecy,
To which a forced oath bound you : if in truth
A suborned murderer have the power to dictate
A binding oath-
Alv.

My long captivity
Left me no choice: the very wish too languished
With the fond hope that nursed it; the sick babe
Drooped at the bosom of its famished mother.
But (more than all) Teresa's perfidy;
The assassin's strong assurance, when no interest,
No motive could have tempted him to falsehood :
In the first pangs of his awaken’d conscience,
When with abhorrence of his own black purpose

The murderous weapon, pointed at my breast,
Fell from his palsied hand-
Zul.

Heavy presumption !
Alv. It weighed not with me-Hark! I will tell

thee all;
As we passed by, I bade thee mark the base
Of yonder cliff-
Zul.

That rocky seat you mean,
Shaped by the billows ?-
Alv.

There Teresa met me The morning of the day of my departure. We were alone : the purple hue of dawn Fell from the kindling east aslant upon us, And blending with the blushes on her cheek, Suffused the tear-drops there with rosy light. There seemed a glory round us, and Teresa The angel of the vision !

Had'st thou seen How in each motion her most innocent soul Beamed forth and brightened, thou thyself would'st Guilt is a thing impossible in her!

(tell me, She must be innocent!

Zul. [With a sigh.] Proceed, my lord !

Alv. A portrait which she had procured by stealth (For even then it seems her heart foreboded Or knew Ordonio's moody rivalry) A portrait of herself with thrilling hand She tied around my neck, conjuring me, With earnest prayers, that I would keep it sacred

To my own knowledge: nor did she desist,
Till she had won a solemn promise from me,
That (save my own) no eye should e'er behold it
Till my return. Yet this the assassin knew,
Knew that which none but she could have disclosed.

Zul. A damning proof!
Alv.

My own life wearied me!
And but for the imperative voice within,
With mine own hand I had thrown off the burthen.
That voice, which quelled me, calmed me: and I

sought The Belgic states: there joined the better cause; And there too fought as one that courted death! Wounded, I fell among the dead and dying, In death-like trance: a long imprisonment followed. The fulness of my anguish by degrees Waned to a meditative melancholy ; And still the more I mused, my soul became More doubtful, more perplexed; and still Teresa, Night after night, she visited my sleep; Now as a saintly sufferer, wan and tearful, Now as a saint in glory beckoning to me! Yes, still as in contempt of proof and reason, 1 cherish the fond faith that she is guiltless ! Hear then my fix'd resolve: I'll linger here In the disguise of a Moresco chieftain.The Moorish robes ? Zul.

All, all are in the sea-cave, Some furlong hence. I bade our mariners Secrete the boat there.

Alv.

Above all, the picture
Of the assassination-
Zul.

Be assured
That it remains uninjured.
Alv.

Thus disguised
I will first seek to meet Ordonio's-wife!
If possible, alone too. This was her wonted walk,
And this the hour; her words, her very looks
Will acquit her or convict.

Zul. Will they not know you?

Alv. With your aid, friend, I shall unfearingly Trust the disguise ; and as to my complexion, My long imprisonment, the scanty food, This scar,—and toil beneath a burning sun, Have done already half the business for us. Add too my youth ;-since last we saw each other, Manhood has swoln my chest, and taught my voice A hoarser note—Besides, they think me dead; And what the mind believes impossible, The bodily sense is slow to recognise.

Zul. 'Tis yours, sir to command, mine to obey. Now to the cave beneath the vaulted rock, Where having shaped you to a Moorish chieftain, I'll seek our mariners; and in the dusk Transport whate'er we need to the small dell In the Alpuxarras—there where Zagri lived.

Alv. I know it well : it is the obscurest haunt Of all the mountains

[both stand listening

Voices at a distance ! Let us away!

[Ereunt.

SCENE II.—Enter Teresa and Valdez.

Ter. I hold Ordonio dear; he is your son
And Alvar's brother.
Val.

Love him for himself,
Nor 'make the living wretched for the dead.
Ter. I mourn that you should plead in vain,

Lord Valdez;
But heaven hath heard iny vow, and I remain
Faithful to Alvar, be he dead or living.
Val. Heaven knows with what delight I saw

your loves,
And could my heart's blood give him back to thee
I would die smiling. But these are idle thoughts!
Thy dying father comes upon my soul
With that same look, with which he gave thee to me;
I held thee in my arms a powerless babe,
While thy poor mother, with a mute entreaty,
Fixed her faint eyes on mine. Ah! not for this,
That I should let thee feed thy soul with gloom,
And with slow anguish wear away thy life,
The victim of a useless constancy.
I must not see thee wretched.
Ter.

There are woes
Ill bartered for the garishness of joy!
If it be wretched with an untired eye
To watch those skiey tints, and this green ocean;
Or in the sultry hour beneath some rock,
My hair dishevelled by the pleasant sea breeze,
To shape sweet visions, and live o'er again