Page:Poems Shore.djvu/138

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Olga
Czar. Strange words! once more, who art thou?Olga. [unmasking.]I am Death.
Czar. Oh take another name! Is Death so beautiful?
[A hand is stretched over Olga's shoulder and
stabs the Czar to the heart

LAST SCENE

Another apartment—Ivan (the assassin) and Olga,
  guarded. Ivan, fettered. Olga, on a couch insensible

Ivan. [Watching Olga.] She fell thus in a swoon and lay as dead,
Soon as the blow was dealt.
Soon as the blow was dealt.Guard.She's coming to.
Olga. [Reviving.] Where am I? what am I? and who are you?
Ivan. You are in the palace where your task was. done,
You are a martyr-saint, the crown of women—
I your poor comrade—but that name of honour
Is as a halo, in whose light I go
Right proudly to the scaffold.
Right proudly to the scaffold.Olga.I go too?
Ivan. Perchance they'll pardon all that loveliness.
Olga. I am perplexed—I know myself no more.

124