Page:Dramas 1.pdf/307

Rh

What horrible words, if they have any meaning! If they have none, most piteous!— Henriquez; O, my Lord!—My noble husband! I thought not thou would'st e'er have look'd on me As thou hast done, with such an eye of sternness. Alas! and had'st thou nothing dear on earth But him whom thou hast lost?

I had, I had! Thy love was true and virtuous. It must not be! Would thou wert false! Would grinding contumely Had bow'd me to the earth—worn from my mind The very sense and nature of a man! Faithful to me! Go, loose thee from my side; Thy faithfulness is agony ineffable, It makes me more accursed. Cling not to me: To taste the slightest feeling of thy love Were base—were monstrous now.—Follow me not! The ecstasy of misery spurns all pity. [Exit.