Know you that stately Moor?
But doubt not he is some Moresco chieftain, Who hides himself among the Alpuxarras.
The Alpuxarras? Does he know his danger, So near this seat?
He wears the Moorish robes too,
As in defiance of the royal edict.
[ALHADRA advances to ALVAR, who has walked to the back of the stage, near the rocks. TERESA drops her veil.
Gallant Moresco! An inquisitor, Monviedro, of known hatred to our race-- ALVAR (interrupting her).
You have mistaken me. I am a Christian.
He deems, that we are plotting to ensnare him: Speak to him, Lady-none can hear you speak, And not believe you innocent of guile.
Dreams tell but of the past, and yet, 't is said, They prophesy
The Past lives o'er again
In its effects, and to the guilty spirit The ever-frowning Present is its image.
What sudden spell o'ermasters me? Why seeks he me, shunning the Moorish woman?
[TERESA looks round uneasily, but gradually becomes attentive as ALVAR proceeds in the next speech.
I dreamt I had a friend, on whom I leant With blindest trust, and a betrothed maid, Whom I was wont to call not mine, but me: For mine own self seem'd nothing, lacking her. This maid so idolized that trusted friend Dishonour'd in my absence, soul and body! Fear, following guilt, tempted to blacker guilt, And murderers were suborn'd against my life. But by my looks, and most impassion'd words, I roused the virtues that are dead in no man, Even in the assassins' hearts! they made their terms, And thank'd me for redeeming them from murder.
You are lost in thought: hear him no more, sweet Lady!
From morn to night I am myself a dreamer, And slight things bring on me the idle mood! Well, sir, what happen'd then?
A rock, methought, fast by a grove of firs, Whose thready leaves to the low-breathing gale Made a soft sound most like the distant ocean,
A storm came on, mingling all sounds of fear,
No start, no jealousy of stirring conscience! And she referr'd to me-fondly, methought! Could she walk here if she had been a traitress? Here, where we play'd together in our childhood? Here, where we plighted vows? where her cold cheek Received my last kiss, when with suppress'd feelings
The second flash of lightning show'd a tree
That woods, and sky, and mountains, seem'd one havoc. She had fainted in my arms? It cannot be!
Hard by me, newly scathed. I rose tumultuous: My soul work'd high, I bared my head to the storm, And, with loud voice and clamorous agony, Kneeling I pray'd to the great Spirit that made me, Pray'd, that REMORSE might fasten on their hearts, And cling with poisonous tooth, inextricable As the gored lion's bite!
There is no room in this heart for puling love tales. TERESA (lifts up her veil, and advances to ALVAR). Stranger, farewell! I guess not who you are, Nor why you so address'd your tale to me. Your mien is noble, and, I own, perplex'd me With obscure memory of something past, Which still escaped my efforts, or presented Tricks of a fancy pamper'd with long wishing. If, as it sometimes happens, our rude startling Whilst your full heart was shaping out its dream, Drove you to this, your not ungentle, wildness- You have my sympathy, and so farewell!
But if some undiscover'd wrongs oppress you, And you need strength to drag them into light, The generous Valdez, and my Lord Ordonio, Have arm and will to aid a noble sufferer; Nor shall you want my favourable pleading.
[Exeunt TERESA and ALHADRA.
'T is strange! It cannot be! my Lord Ordonio! Her Lord Ordonio! Nay, I will not do it! I cursed him once-and one curse is enough! How had she look'd, and pale! but not like guilt- And her calm tones-sweet as a song of mercy! If the bad spirit retain'd his angel's voice, Hell scarce were Hell. And why not innocent? Who meant to murder me, might well cheat her? But ere she married him, he had stain'd her honour;. Ah! there I am hamper'd. What if this were a lie Framed by the assassin? Who should tell it him, If it were truth? Ordonio would not tell him. Yet why one lie? all else, I know, was truth.
'T is not in nature! I will die, believing That I shall meet her where no evil is, No treachery, no cup dash'd from the lips. I'll haunt this scene no more! live she in peace! Her husband-ay, her husband! May this angel New mould his canker'd heart! Assist me, Heaven, That I may pray for my poor guilty brother!
A wild and mountainous Country. ORDONIO and ISI- DORE are discovered, supposed at a little distance from ISIDORE's house.
Here we may stop: your house distinct in view, Yet we secured from listeners.
My house! and it looks cheerful as the clusters Basking in sunshine on yon vine-clad rock, That over-brows it! Patron! Friend! Preserver! Thrice have you saved my life. Once in the battle You gave it me: next rescued me from suicide, When for my follies I was made to wander, With mouths to feed, and not a morsel for them: Now, but for you, a dungeon's slimy stones Had been my bed and pillow.
You sport with me, my lord?
Come, come! this foolery Lives only in thy looks, thy heart disowns it!
I can bear this, and any thing more grievous From you, my lord-but how can I serve you here!
Why, you can utter with a solemn gesture Oracular sentences of deep no-meaning,
Wear a quaint garment, make mysterious antics
I am dull, my lord! I do not comprehend you.
In blunt terms, you can play the sorcerer. She hath no faith in Holy Church, 't is true: Her lover school'd her in some newer nonsense! Yet still a tale of spirits works upon her. She is a lone enthusiast, sensitive, Shivers, and can not keep the tears in her eye: And such do love the marvellous too well
Not to believe it. We will wind up her fancy With a strange music, that she knows not of- With fumes of frankincense, and mummery, Then leave, as one sure token of his death, That portrait, which from off the dead man's neck I bade thee take, the trophy of thy conquest.
Will that be a sure sign?
Fondly caressing him, her favour'd lover (By some base spell he had bewitch'd her senses), She whisper'd such dark fears of me, forsooth, As made this heart pour gall into my veins. And as she coyly bound it round his neck, She made him promise silence; and now holds The secret of the existence of this portrait, Known only to her lover and herself.
But I had traced her, stolen unnoticed on them, And unsuspected saw and heard the whole.
But now I should have cursed the man who told me You could ask aught, my lord, and I refuse
ISIDORE (with stammering).
Why-why, my lord!
You know you told me that the lady loved you, Had loved you with incautious tenderness; That if the young man, her betrothed husband, Returned, yourself, and she, and the honour of both Must perish. Now, though with no tenderer scruples Than those which being native to the heart,
Than those, my lord, which merely being a man- ORDONIO (aloud, though to express his contempt he speaks in the third person).
This fellow is a Man-he kill'd for hire
One whom he knew not, yet has tender scruples! [Then turning to ISIDORE.
These doubts, these fears, thy whine, thy stammeringPish, fool! thou blunder'st through the book of guilt, Spelling thy villany.
He fought us valiantly, and wounded all; In fine, compell'd a parley.
ORDONIO (sighing, as if lost in thought).
He offer'd me his purse
ORDONIO (with eager suspicion).
He promised us I know not what-in vain! Then with a look and voice that overawed me, He said, What mean you, friends? My life is dear : I have a brother and a promised wife, Who make life dear to me and if I fall, That brother will roam earth and hell for vengeance. There was a likeness in his face to yours;
I ask'd his brother's name: he said-Ordonio,
Son of Lord Valdez! I had well nigh fainted. At length I said (if that indeed I said it, And that no Spirit made my tongue its organ), That woman is dishonour'd by that brother, And he the man who sent us to destroy you. He drove a thrust at me in rage. I told him, He wore her portrait round his neck. He look'd As he had been made of the rock that propt his back- Ay, just as you look now-only less ghastly! At length, recovering from his trance, he threw
His sword away, and bade us take his life,
It was not worth his keeping.
Oh blood-hounds! may eternal wrath flame round you! He was his Maker's Image undefaced? [A pause.
It seizes me-by Hell I will go on!
Having first traced him homeward to his haunt. But lo! the stern Dominican, whose spies Lurk every where, already (as it seem'd) Had given commission to his apt familiar To seek and sound the Moor; who now returning, Was by this trusty agent stopped midway. I, dreading fresh suspicion if found near him In that lone place, again conceal'd myself, Yet within hearing. So the Moor was question'd, And in your name, as lord of this domain, Proudly he answer'd, «Say to the Lord Ordonio, He that can bring the dead to life again!>>>
Ay, all of him is strange.
He call'd himself a Christian, yet he wears The Moorish robes, as if he courted death.
What-wouldst thou stop, man? thy pale looks won't
They 'll know my gait: but stay! last night I watch'd A stranger near the ruin in the wood, Who as it seem'd was gathering herbs and wild flowers. I had follow'd him at distance, seen him scale Its western wall, and by an easier entrance Stole after him unnoticed. There I mark'd, That, 'mid the chequer-work of light and shade, With curious choice he pluck'd no other flowers But those on which the moonlight fell: and once I heard him muttering o'er the plant. A wizard- Some gaunt slave prowling here for dark employment.
Doubtless you question'd him?
Where does this wizard live?
ISIDORE (pointing to the distance).
You see that brooklet?
Trace its course backward: through a narrow opening It leads you to the place.
You cannot err. It is a small green dell Built all around with high off-sloping hills, And from its shape our peasants aptly call it The Giant's Cradle. There's a lake in the midst, And round its banks tall wood that branches over, And makes a kind of faery forest grow Down in the water. At the further end A puny cataract falls on the lake;
And there, a curious sight! you see its shadow For ever curling like a wreath of smoke, Up through the foliage of those faery trees. His cot stands opposite. You cannot miss it. ORDONIO (in retiring stops suddenly at the edge of the scene, and then turning round to ISIDORE). Ha!-Who lurks there? Have we been overheard?
There, where the smooth high wall of slate-rock glit
'Neath those tall stones, which, propping each the other, Form a mock portal with their pointed arch! Pardon my smiles! 'T is a poor Idiot Boy, Who sits in the sun, and twirls a bough about, Ilis weak eyes seeth'd in most unmeaning tears. And so he sits, swaying his cone-like head; And, staring at his bough from morn to sun-set, See-saws his voice in inarticulate noises!
'T is well! and now for this same Wizard's Lair.
Some three strides up the hill, a mountain ash Stretches its lower boughs and scarlet clusters O'er the old thatch.
I shall not fail to find it. [Exeunt ORDONIO and ISIDORE.
That my return involved Ordonio's death, I trust, would give me an unmingled pang, Yet bearable:-but when I see my father Strewing his scant grey hairs, e'en on the ground, Which soon must be his grave, and my Teresa- Her husband proved a murderer, and her infants, His infants-poor Teresa!-all would perish, All perish-all! and I (nay bear with me) Could not survive the complicated ruin! ZULIMEZ (much affected).
Nay now! I have distress'd you-you well know, I ne'er will quit your fortunes. True, 't is tiresome! You are a painter, one of many fancies!
You can call up past deeds, and make them live On the blank canvas! and each little herb,
That grows on mountain bleak, or tangled forest,
You have learnt to name-
What if it were my brother coming onwards? I sent a most mysterious message to him.
Enter ORDONIO. ALVAR (starting).
ORDONIO (to himself as he enters). If I distinguish'd right her gait and stature, It was the Moorish woman, Isidore's wife, That pass'd me as I enter'd. A lit taper, In the night air, doth not more naturally Attract the night flies round it, than a conjuror Draws round him the whole female neighbourhood.
You know my name, I guess, if not my person.
I am Ordonio, son of the Lord Valdez.
ALVAR (with deep emotion).
[ORDONIO walks leisurely round the room, and looks
attentively at the plants.
ZULIMEZ (to ALVAR).
Why, what ails you now?
How your hand trembles! Alvar, speak! what wish you
To fall upon his neck and weep forgiveness! ORDONIO (returning, and aloud).
Pluck'd in the moonlight from a ruin'd abbey- Those only, which the pale rays visited! O the unintelligible power of weeds,
When a few odd prayers have been mutter'd o'er them: Then they work miracles! I warrant you, There's not a leaf, but underneath it lurks Some serviceable imp.
Hath sent me a strange message.
With you, then, I am to speak:
[Haughtily waving his hand to ZULIMEZ.
And, mark you, alone.
« He that can bring the dead to life again!-Such was your message, Sir! You are no dullard, But one that strips the outward rind of things!
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