Hark! heard you not some footsteps? What follows thence?

Did Alvar perish-he, I mean-the lover-
The fellow,-

ALVAR.

Nay, speak out! 'twill ease your heart To call him villain-Why stand'st thou aghast! Men think it natural to hate their rivals.

ORDONIO (hesitating).

ALVAR (alone, indignantly flings the purse away, and
gazes passionately at the portrait).
And I did curse thee?
At midnight? on my knees? and I believed
Thee perjured, thee a traitress! Thee dishonor'd
O blind and credulous fool! O guilt of folly!

Now, till she knows him dead, she will not wed me. Should not thy inarticulate Fonduesses,

Thy Infant Loves-should not thy Maiden Vows
Have come upon my heart? And this sweet Image.
Tied round my neck with many a chaste endearment

I left you.

And thrilling hands, that made me weep and tremble-On such employment! With far other thoughts Ah, coward dupe! to yield it to the miscreant,

I had sworn that I would grasp-ev'n in my death- Ha! he has been tampering with her?

Had pamper'd his swoln heart and made him proud?
And what if Pride had duped him into guilt?

Yet still he stalk'd a self-created God,

Not very bold, but exquisitely cunning;

And one that at his Mother's looking-glass

Would force his features to a frowning sternness?

Still prompts thee wisely. Let the pangs of guilt
Surprise the guilty: thou art innocent!

[Exeunt TERESA and Attendant. (Music as before).

The spell is mutter'd-Come, thou wandering Shape
Who own'st no Master in a human eye,
Whate'er be this man's doom, fair be it, or foul
If he be dead, O come! and bring with thee
That which he grasp'd in death! but if he live,
Some token of his obscure perilous life.

[The whole Music clashes into a Chorus

CHORUS.

Wandering Demons, hear the spell!
Lest a blacker charm compel-

[The incense on the altar takes fire suddenly, and
an illuminated picture of AIVAR's assassina-
tion is discovered, and having remained a
few seconds is then hidden by ascending
flames.

ORDONIO (starting in great agitation).
Duped! duped! duped-the traitor Isidore!
[At this instant the doors are forced open, Mox-
VIEDRO and the Familiars of the Inquisition,
Servants etc. enter and fill the stage.

MONVIEDRO.

First seize the sorcerer suffer him not to speak!
The holy judges of the Inquisition
Shall hear his first words.-Look you pale, Lord
Valdez?

Plain evidence have we here of most foul sorcery.
There is a dungeon underneath this castle,
And as you hope for mild interpretation,
Surrender instantly the keys and charge of it.
ORDONIO (recovering himself as from stupor, to
Servants.)

Why haste you not? Off with him to the dungeon!
[All rush out in tumult

SCENE II.

Interior of a Chapel, with painted Window

Enter TERESA.

TERESA.

When first I enter'd this pure spot, forebodings

Young Lord! I tell thee, that there are such Beings-Press'd heavy on my heart: but as I knelt,

Yea, and it gives fierce merriment to the damn'd,
To see these most proud men, that lothe mankind,
At every stir and buzz of coward conscience,
Trick, cant, and lie, most whining hypocrites!
Away, away! Now let me hear more music.

TERESA.

[Music again.

Tis strange, I tremble at my own conjectures!
But whatsoe'er it mean, I dare no longer
Be present at these lawless mysteries,
This dark provoking of the Hidden Powers!
Already I affront-if not high Heaven-
Yet Alvar's Memory!-Hark! I make appeal
Against the unholy rite, and hasten hence
To bend before a lawful shrine, and seek
That voice which whispers, when the still
listens,

Comfort and faithful Hope! Let us retire.
ALVAR (to TERESA anxiously).
O full of faith and guileless love, thy Spirit

Such calm unwonted bliss possess'd my spirit,
A trance so cloudless, that those sounds, hard by,
Of trampling uproar fell upon mine ear

As alien and unnoticed as the rain-storm
Beats on the roof of some fair banquet-room,
While sweetest melodies are warbling-
Enter VALDEZ.

VALDEZ.

Ye pitying saints, forgive a father's blindness,
And extricate us from this net of peril!

TERESA.

Who wakes anew my fears, and speaks of peril?

VALDEZ.

O best Teresa, wisely wert thou prompted!
This was no feat of mortal agency!
heart That picture-Oh, that picture tells me all!

With a flash of light it came, in flames it vamsh'd
Self-kindled, self-consumed: bright as thy Life,
Sudden and unexpected as thy Fate,
Alvar! My son! My son!-The Inquisitor-

I breathed to the Unerring

Permitted prayers. Must those remain unanswer'd,
Yet impious sorcery, that holds no commune
Save with the lying Spirit, claim belief?

VALDEZ.

O not to-day, not now for the first time
Was Alvar lost to thee-

[Turning off, aloud, but yet as to himself.
Accurst assassins!

Disarm'd, o'erpower'd, despairing of defence,
At his bared breast he seem'd to grasp some relict
More dear than was his life-

TERESA (with a faint shriek).
O Heavens! my portrait!
And he did grasp it in his death-pang!
Off, false Demon,
That beat'st thy black wings close above my head!
[ORDONIO enters with the keys of the dungeon

in his hand.

Hush! who comes here? The wizard Moor's em-
ployer!

Moors were his murderers, you say? Saints shield us
From wicked thoughts

[VALDEZ moves towards the back of the stage to
meet OR DONIO, and during the concluding
lines of TERESA's speech appears as eagerly
conversing with him.

Is Alvar dead? what then?
The nuptial rites and funeral shall be one!
Here's no abiding-place for thee, Teresa.—
Away! they see me not-Thou seest me, Alvar!
To thee I bend my course-But first one question,
One question to Ordonio.-My limbs tremble-
There I may sit unmark'd—a moment wil! restore me.
[Retires out of sight.

bled

Why-why, what ails you now?—

ORDONIO (confused).

Me? what ails me?

A pricking of the blood-It might have happen'd
At any other time.-Why scan you me?

VALDEZ

His speech about the corse, and stabs and murderers

Bore reference to the assassins

The traitor, Isidore!

ORDONIO.

Duped! duped! duped [A pause; then wildly. I tell thee, my dear father!

I am most glad of this.

VALDEZ (confused).

True Sorcery

Merits its doom; and this perchance may guide us
To the discovery of the murderers.

I have their statures and their several faces
So present to me, that but once to meet them
Would be to recognize.

ORDONIO.

Yes! yes! we recognize them
I was benumb'd, and stagger'd up and down
Through darkness without light-dark-dark-dark!
My flesh crept chill, my limbs felt manacled,
As had a snake coil'd round them!-Now''t is sun-
shine,

And the blood dances freely through its channels!
[Turns off abruptly; then to himself

This is my virtuous, grateful Isidore!

[Then mimicking ISIDORE'S manner and voice. "A common trick of gratitude, my Lord!" Oh Gratitude! a dagger would dissect His "own full heart"-'t were good to see its color.

Hatred and Love! Fancies opposed by fancies!
What, if one reptile sting another reptile!
Where is the crime? The goodly face of Nature
Hath one disfeaturing stain the less upon it.
Are we not all predestined Transiency,

And cold Dishonor? Grant it, that this hand
Had given a morsel to the hungry worms
Somewhat too early-Where's the crime of this?
That this must needs bring on the idiocy
Of moist-eyed Penitence 't is like a dream!

VALDEZ.

ORDONIO (as he advances with VALDEZ). These are the dungeon keys. Monviedro knew not Wild talk, my son' But thy excess of feelingThat I too had received the wizard message,

[Averting himself