Page:The poems of Emma Lazarus volume 1.djvu/341

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THE SPAGNOLETTO.
327

So, lean on me you are not well. This way.
Pluck up good heart, sir ; we shall soon be there.
[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Night. A Eoom in RIBERA S House. ANNICCA seated alone, in an attitude of extreme weariness and despond ency,

ANNICCA.

His heavy sleep still lasts. Despite the words
Of the physician, I can cast not off
That ghastly fear. Albeit he owned no drugs,
This deathlike slumber, this deep breathing slow,
His livid pallor makes me dread each moment
His weary pulse will cease. This is the end,
And from the first I knew it. The worst evil
My warning tongue had wrought were joy to this.
No heavier curse could I invoke on her
Than that she see him in her dreams, her thoughts,
As he is now. I could no longer bear it ;
I have fled hither from his couch to breathe
To quicken my spent courage for the end.
I cannot pray my heart is full of curses.
He sleeps ; he rests. What better could I wish
For his rent heart, his stunned, unbalanced brain,
Than sleep to be eternally prolonged?

Enter FIAMETTA. ANNICCA looks up anxiously, half rising.

ANNICCA.

How now ? What news?