JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
Joseph. Lord Potiphar is kind.
Zuleika. Kind—kind—! But is that love? Is that freedom?
Joseph. He hath promised me freedom to-morrow.
Zuleika. And so I lose the only friend
Joseph. I should have remembered, and left that unsaid.
Zuleika [Very tenderly] Thou goest hence to thy father and thy mother; to Reuben whom thou lovest—to all the dear, the familiar things of thy childhood. But I abide here; a loveless wife, rent from her gods and her kin; doomed to dwell among the strange faces forever.
Joseph [Earnestly] I pity thee.
Zuleika. Ah! The word is music in mine ear! Come nearernearer—give me thy hand—sit beside mesay thou pitiest me again. Forget thy bondage. We are alone. The house is hushed. Say, Zuleika, I pity thee.
Joseph [Moved] From my heart I pity thee.
Zuleika. Nay, but speak as I bade thee.
Joseph. I pity thee, Zuleika.
Zuleika. Ah! My name on thy lips! When did I last hear such music?
Joseph. Now let me go. The lilies and incense stifle me.
Zuleika [Takes the cup containing the philtre, and bends over him] A cooling draught—drink to thy freedom and mine.
Joseph [Putting it gently aside] It is not fitting the slave should drink with his mistress.
Zuleika. Drink! Drink!
Joseph [Gazing at her half in fear] Thy body bent over me—! Where before have I seen such sinuous grace?
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