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GUZMAN.

Thou sayest well.

I am so wrapp'd in gloom I cannot see

One ray of hope. I seem in some vast cave,

The light of heaven shut out.-These marble pillars
Frown like vast rocks all green with mould and age,
Where the foul reptile clambers.-These proud arches
Fretted with gold and curious workmanship,
Are hung as with a grave's pall.-While my doubts
Hiss in my ears like slimy adders crawling
In loathsome caverns.-Father, give me counsel.
ASELMO.

Thou cam'st not to confessional, this morn.
GUZMAN.

My thoughts were all too black-I dared not come.

ASELMO.

Did'st thou do penance? On the flinty earth
Did'st kneel an hour last night?

GUZMAN.

I did, good father,

ASELMO.

And did'st not find relief?

GUZMAN.

I was more wretched.

ASELMO, (severe.)

Thou prayest wrong! When men do call on heaven

They would foist in the ear of Deity

Their vile abominations, and so make

God a gross pander. They who go up there, (pointing up) Leave earth behind! Such men are good men, they

Do hold the keys of heaven!

GUZMAN.

Father, pray for me.

ASELMO, (not attending to him.)

Good men do right-good men are honorable.
All virtues, whatsoe'er their name or place,
Are jewels which they wear upon their brows,
To make bad men and villains slink away,
And virtuous ones walk in the face of heaven,
To purge the air and make the world ashamed.

Good men keep faith-never strike hands with ruffians→
Good men that swear, make oaths they will not break-
Good men look back upon a well spent life,

Nor shudder at the horrid images

That faithful memory doth conjure up

Good men

GUZMAN.

No more, good father, spare me, spare me!

Thy life, my son

ASELMO.

GUZMAN.

Has been a stone, father,
For I have sinn'd most fully. Y hope:
For I have feelings which men say are good,
I love my friends, I try to make men happy,
I feed the poor, I—

ASELMO, (sternly.)

Dost thou keep thine oaths?
Who swears should think an angel at his side,
Writing the contract down; that sacred contract
Is winged to Heaven's high chancery, and registered
Till man shall meet it!

GUZMAN.

Think'st thou, holy father,

That men should keep all oaths?

ASELMO.

Will Heaven be mocked?

And think'st thou if men will mock Heaven, my son,
It were not right to hold them to their folly?
To swear, is wrong! to break an oath, is-death!

GUZMAN.

Wilt leave me, father, I would be alone.

(Exit Aselmo, sneering.)

SCENE II. The same.

(Guzman sits lost in thought-Enter Inez, runs up to him as he sits, and kneels.)

INEZ.

Father, dear father, you're not well to day!
Nay, nay, I see it—do not think to cheat me,
You are not well. There's care upon your brow,
Your lip is pale, your hand is feverish,

You are not well.

GUZMAN.

Would I were in my grave.

INEZ.

And where were Inez then?

GUZMAN.

True, true, 'tis a bad world,—

And oft it deals with such as thee most harshly.

INEZ.

But, father, why are you thus sad to-day?
I'm just come in from wandering on the hills-
Every thing smiles there. All is full of life
And beauty and luxuriance. There the winds
Are playing with the leaves, the fresh green leaves

That dance and glance and glitter-there the birds
Are whistling in them-and among the flowers
That on the sunny side of the young hills

Blossom, the bees are humming-earth sends up
From all her landscapes, groves and fields and streams,
A shout of gladness! Why should you be sad?

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Then let me ever stay with you—

Cling round your neck-be folded in your heart

That you may always smile.

GUZMAN, (laying his hand on her head.)

Ye gracious Heavens!

O! if within the storehouse of your joys,

One gift there be than others the most perfect,
Let it rest here. Let no rude storms assail

Her geatle nature-be her life a stream

Meandering through green vales bedeck'd with flowers

Of summer sweetness-le. no pining sorrow

Eat at her heart and cut its sympathies

From what it loves-and when her sun goes down,

Be it the star which sinks oeneath the wave,

Only to rise again and bring the day!

My more than father!

INEZ.

GUZMAN.

Prithee, Inez, tell me,

How many years hast seen?

INEZ.

Scarce fifteen yet.

GUZMAN.

Poor thing! flung out upon a heartless world

To test its charities. Thy morn of life

Was like a sail far off at sea descried,

Come from we know not whither, which the winds
Brought to a kindly haven—

INEZ.

And to thee.

What were I without thee?

GUZMAN.

I found a flower,

A little one 'just sprouted on a bank,'
Gentle and beautiful. I took that flower
And nurs'd it in the soil of my own heart,
Where it expanding has repaid my love

With such a wealth of sweetness, that the world,
The wide, wide world should never buy it of me.
That flower was-

INEZ.

Inez. O, my more than father!
If in poor Inez's heart there be one joy,

She would not sacrifice-one thought, one wish,
One hope of future good she would not crush,
At your command-then cast poor Inez off,
And call her most ungrateful.

GUZMAN.

Cheer thee, sweet,

I shall not tax thy gentle nature hard;
For thou wert made for gentlest offices,

And gentlest minist'rings and deeds of charity;
The lightest storms that riot in men's heart,

They would kill thee-nay, nay, I shall not tax thee;

Yet take an old man's counsel. Be thou charier

Of thy pure feelings. Love, in maidens' hearts,

Is like some chemic property which absorbs

All other passions, making love her life;
And in a world like this, believe me, sweet,
It is a light that oft as otherwise

Leadeth astray.

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Is there no secret in't,

To chase the tell-tale blood up to thy cheeks,
At-Juan's name? Ah! but I spare thee, Inez;
I do not wish to probe thy woman's weakness.

Love him, sweet Inez-he is worthy of you,

Love him with your whole heart, and—villain, how now! (Enter Servant.)

SERVANT.

My lord, two strangers at the castle gate

Ask for admittance.

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My father, my dear father! (kneels.) GUZMAN.

Rise up, my boy! and in thy father's heart

Find fitting welcome. Thou art welcome home;
And such a joy, through these old limbs of mine
Thy coming gives-a thousand thousand welcomes!
But who is this, my son ?

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