With a tale of words lured from the lips of anger O. Bat. Ha! what strangers here! 1 What business have they in an old man's eye? I have yet another tale, but [then to Sarolta aside. not for all ears! Sar. I oft have passed your cottage, and still praised Its beauty, and that trim orchard-plot, whose blossoms The gusts of April showered aslant its thatch. Come, you shall show it me! And, while you bid it Farewell, be not ashamed that I should witness The oil of gladness glittering on the water Of an ebbing grief. Las. (alone.) [Bathory shows her into his cottage. Vexation! baffled! school'd! Ho! Laska! wake! why? what can all this mean? She sent away that cockatrice in anger! Oh the false witch! It is too plain, she loves him. And now, the old man near my lady's person, This line was borrowed unconsciously from the Excursion. Has the seat stung you, Laska? Las. No, serpent! no; 'tis you that sting me; you! What? you would cling to him again! Gly. Las. Whom! Bethlen! Bethlen! Yes; gaze as if your very eyes embraced him! Ha! you forget the scene of yesterday! Mute ere he came, but then-Out on your screams, And your pretended fears! Gly. Your fears, at least, Were real, Laska! or your trembling limbs And white cheeks played the hypocrites most vilely! Las. I fear! whom? What? For having fed my jealousy and envy With a plot, made out of other men's revenges, Las. You will know too soon. Gly. Would I could find my lady! though she chid me Yet this suspense— Las. [going. Stop! stop! one question only— Aye, as the old song says, I am quite calm Gly. Calm as a tiger, valiant as a dove. Nay now, I have marred the verse: well! this one question Las. Are you not bound to me by your own promise? And is it not as plain Gly. Halt! that's two questions, Las. Pshaw! Is it not as plain as impudence, That you're in love with this young swaggering beggar, Bethlen Bathory? When he was accused, Why pressed you forward? Why did you defend him? [privilege. Gly. Question meet question: that's a woman's Why, Laska, did you urge Lord Casimir To make my lady force that promise from me? All her commands were gracious, sweet requests. I'd keep them all for my dear, kind, good mistress. Gly. Oh! that's a different thing. To be sure he's brave, and handsome, and so pious To his good old father. But for loving him- . Nay, there, indeed you are mistaken, Laska! Poor youth! I rather think I grieve for him; For I sigh so deeply when I think of him! And if I see him, the tears come in my eyes, And my heart beats; and all because I dream'd 1 That the war-wolf 1 had gored him as he hunted Las. You dare own all this? Your lady will not warrant promise-breach. Mine, pampered miss! you shall be; and I'll make you Grieve for him with a vengeance. Odd's, my fingers Tingle already! Gly. (aside.) Ha! Oh, save me! save me! [makes threatening signs. Bethlen coming this way! [Glycine then cries out. Pray don't kill me, Laska! Enter Bethlen in a hunting dress. Bet. What, beat a woman! Las. (to Glycine.) Bet. Unmanly dastard, hold! Las. O you cockatrice! Do you chance to know Who-I-am, sir ?-(S'death! how black he looks!) I have started many strange beasts in my time, Bet. 1 For the best account of the War-wolf or Lycanthropus, see Drayton's Moon-calf, Chalmers' English Poets, Vol. IV. p. 13 e. But none less like a man, than this before me, Las. Bold youth! she's mine. Gly. No, not my master yet, But only is to be; and all, because Two years ago my lady asked me, and I promised her, not him; and if she'll let me, Bet. Hush, Glycine! Gly. Yes, I do, Bethlen; for he just now brought False witnesses to swear away your life: Your life, and old Bathory's too. Bet. Where is my father? answer, or Bathory's! [Laska during this time retires from the stage. Gly. Oh, heed not him! I saw you pressing onward, And did but fain alarm. Dear gallant youth, It is your life they seek! Gly. Oh that she did! she could not then have What have I done? or whom have I offended? |