Count Alarcos; a Tragedy Part 16

III:1:13 ALAR.

And found the being that I loved, and found Her faithful still.

III:1:14 PRIOR.

And thou, my son, wert happy?

III:1:15 ALAR.

Alas! I was no longer free. Strange ties Had bound a hopeless exile. But she I had loved, And never ceased to love, for in the form, Not in the spirit was her faith more pure, She looked upon me with a glance that told Her death but in my love. I struggled, nay, 'Twas not a struggle, 'twas an agony.

Her aged sire, her dark impending doom, And the overwhelming pa.s.sion of my soul: My wife died suddenly.

III:1:16 PRIOR.

And by a life That should have shielded hers?

III:1:17 ALAR.

Is there hope of mercy?

Can prayers, can penances, can they avail?

What consecration of my wealth, for I'm rich, Can aid me? Can it aid me? Can endowments?

Nay, set no bounds to thy unlimited schemes Of saving charity. Can shrines, can chauntries, Monastic piles, can they avail? What if I raise a temple not less proud than this, Enriched with all my wealth, with all, with all?

Will endless ma.s.ses, will eternal prayers, Redeem me from perdition?

III:1:18 PRIOR.

What, would gold Redeem the sin it prompted?

III:1:19 ALAR.

No, by Heaven!

No, Fate had dowered me with wealth might feed All but a royal hunger.

III:1:20 PRIOR.

And alone Thy fatal pa.s.sion urged thee

III:1:21 ALAR.

Hah!

III:1:22 PRIOR.

Probe deep Thy wounded soul.

III:1:23 ALAR.

'Tis torture: fathomless I feel the fell incision.

III:1:24 PRIOR.

There is a lure Thou dost not own, and yet its awful shade Lowers in the back-ground of thy soul: thy tongue Trifles the church's ear. Beware, my son, And tamper not with Paradise.

III:1:25 ALAR.

A breath, A shadow, essence subtler far than love: And yet I loved her, and for love had dared All that I ventured for this twin-born lure Cradled with love, for which I soiled my soul.

O, father, it was Power.

III:1:26 PRIOR.

And this dominion Purchased by thy soul's mortgage, still is't thine?

III:1:27 ALAR.

Yea, thousands bow to him, who bows to thee.

III:1:28 PRIOR.

Thine is a fearful deed.

III:1:29 ALAR.

O, is there mercy?

III:1:30 PRIOR.

Say, is there penitence?

III:1:31 ALAR.

How shall I gauge it?

What temper of contrition might the church Require from such a sinner?

III:1:32 PRIOR.

Is't thy wish, Nay, search the very caverns of thy thought, Is it thy wish this deed were now undone?

III:1:33 ALAR.

Undone, undone! It is; O, say it were, And what am I? O, father, wer't not done, I should not be less tortured than I'm now; My life less like a dream of haunting thoughts Tempting to unknown enormities. The sun Would rise as beamless on my darkened days, Night proffer the same torments. Food would fly My lips the same, and the same restless blood Quicken my hara.s.sed limbs. Undone! undone!

I have no metaphysic faculty To deem this deed undone.

III:1:34 PRIOR.

Thou must repent This terrible deed. Look through thy heart. Thy wife, There was a time thou lov'dst her?

III:1:35 ALAR.

I'll not think There was a time.

III:1:36 PRIOR.

And was she fair?

III:1:37 ALAR.

A form Dazzling all eyes but mine.

III:1:38 PRIOR.

And pure?

III:1:39 ALAR.

No saint More chaste than she. Her consecrated shape She kept as 'twere a shrine, and just as full Of holy thoughts; her very breath was incense, And all her gestures sacred as the forms Of priestly offices!

III:1:40 PRIOR.

I'll save thy soul.

Thou must repent that one so fair and pure, And loving thee so well--

III:1:41 ALAR.

Father, in vain.

There is a bar betwixt me and repentance.

And yet--

III:1:42 PRIOR.