JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
that Pharaoh will send Potiphar forth to strike down rebellion. I will throw myself at my lord's feet; he shall let me fight at his side; fighting I will win freedom, and then, when I come back, a free man, mine eyes shall gaze into thine; and my tongue shall tell thee why my heart beateth so wildly.
Asenath. But in the battle thou may'st be slain.
Joseph. At least I shall be free!
Asenath. And I forever bound.
Joseph. Asenath—! [With agony] Oh! I forget my bonds!
Asenath. Rid thyself quickly of thy bonds, lest thou be too late.
Joseph. Too late?
Asenath. My father is the priest of the great goddess Neith.
Joseph. Alas, I know not thy strange gods.
Asenath. Thou shalt tell me of thine in happier days. My father is a stern man. There is one man at court, a great officer in the Pharaoh's household, who standeth next to him when he breaketh bread—
Joseph. [Laughing] Of monstrous girth: I know him well—
Asenath. He seeketh me to be his wife.
Joseph. He—! That ancient mountain—!
Asenath. My father loveth him. [The Girls come down] I plead I am too young; the Chief Baker pleadeth he waxeth too old. Oh Joseph, the day is near when I must choose—
Joseph. Choose—! There is choice, then?
Asenath. Ay—'twixt wedding the old lord, or leaving the world forever, in the sisterhood of Neith.
Joseph. [Violently] Neither one or the other! By the true God, I swear—!
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