Page:Fantastics and other Fancies.djvu/146

 It is not her lover who comes. It is her father! "Aïda," mutters the deep but tender voice of Amonasro, "thou hast the daughter of Pharaoh in thy power! Radames loves thee! Wilt thou see again the blessed land of thy birth?—wilt thou inhale the balm of our forests?—wilt thou gaze upon our valleys and behold our temples of gold, and pray to the gods of thy fathers? Then it will only be needful for thee to learn what path the Egyptians will follow! Our people have risen in arms again! Radames loves thee!—he will tell thee all! What! dost thou hesitate? Refuse!—and they who died to free thee from captivity shall arise from the black gulf to curse thee! Refuse!—and the shade of thy mother will return from the tomb to curse thee! Refuse!—and I, thy father, shall disown thee and invoke upon thy head my everlasting curse!" Radames comes! Amonasro, hiding in the shadow of the palms, hears all. Radames betrays his country to Aïda. " Save thyself !—fly with me I" she whispers to her lover. "Leave thy gods; we shall worship together in the