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I do not come to ask your pardon now,

       Seeing I know I stand beyond all pardon;

       Enough of that: I have already, sir,

       Confessed my sin to the Lords Justices;

       They would not listen to me: and some said

       I did invent a tale to save your life;

       You have trafficked with me; others said

       That women played with pity as with men;

       Others that grief for my slain Lord and husband

       Had robbed me of my wits: they would not hear me,

       And, when I sware it on the holy book,

       They bade the doctor cure me. They are ten,

       Ten against one, and they possess your life.

       They call me Duchess here in Padua.

       I do not know, sir; if I be the Duchess,

       I wrote your pardon, and they would not take it;

       They call it treason, say I taught them that;

       Maybe I did. Within an hour, Guido,

       They will be here, and drag you from the cell,

       And bind your hands behind your back, and bid you

       Kneel at the block: I am before them there;

       Here is the signet ring of Padua,

       ‘Twill bring you safely through the men on guard;

       There is my cloak and vizard; they have orders

       Not to be curious: when you pass the gate

       Turn to the left, and at the second bridge

       You will find horses waiting: by tomorrow

       You will be at Venice, safe. [A pause.]

       Do you not speak?

       Will you not even curse me ere you go? -

       You have the right. [A pause.]

       You do not understand

       There lies between you and the headsman’s axe

       Hardly so much sand in the hour-glass

       As a child’s palm could carry: here is the ring:

       I have washed my hand: there is no blood upon it:

       You need not fear. Will you not take the ring?

      GUIDO

       [takes ring and kisses it]

       Ay! gladly, Madam.

      DUCHESS

       And leave Padua.

      GUIDO

       Leave Padua.

      DUCHESS

       But it must be tonight.

      GUIDO

       Tonight it shall be.

      DUCHESS

       Oh, thank God for that!

      GUIDO

       So I can live; life never seemed so sweet

       As at this moment.

      DUCHESS

       Do not tarry, Guido,

       There is my cloak: the horse is at the bridge,

       The second bridge below the ferry house:

       Why do you tarry? Can your ears not hear

       This dreadful bell, whose every ringing stroke

       Robs one brief minute from your boyish life.

       Go quickly.

      GUIDO

       Ay! he will come soon enough.

      DUCHESS

       Who?

      GUIDO

       [calmly]

       Why, the headsman.

      DUCHESS

       No, no.

      GUIDO

       Only he

       Can bring me out of Padua.

      DUCHESS

       You dare not!

       You dare not burden my o’erburdened soul

       With two dead men! I think one is enough.

       For when I stand before God, face to face,

       I would not have you, with a scarlet thread

       Around your white throat, coming up behind

       To say I did it.

      GUIDO

       Madam, I wait.

      DUCHESS

       No, no, you cannot: you do not understand,

       I have less power in Padua tonight

       Than any common woman; they will kill you.

       I saw the scaffold as I crossed the square,

       Already the low rabble throng about it

       With fearful jests, and horrid merriment,

       As though it were a morris-dancer’s platform,

       And not Death’s sable throne. O Guido, Guido,

       You must escape!

      GUIDO

       Madam, I tarry here.

      DUCHESS

       Guido, you shall not: it would be a thing

       So terrible that the amazed stars

       Would fall from heaven, and the palsied moon

       Be in her sphere eclipsed, and the great sun

       Refuse to shine upon the unjust earth

       Which saw thee die.

      GUIDO

       Be sure I shall not stir.

      DUCHESS

       [wringing her hands]

       Is one sin not enough, but must it breed

       A second sin more horrible again

       Than was the one that bare it? O God, God,

       Seal up sin’s teeming womb, and make it barren,

       I will not have more blood upon my hand

       Than I have now.

      GUIDO

       [seizing her hand]

       What! am I fallen so low

       That I may not have leave to die for you?

      DUCHESS

       [tearing her hand away]

       Die for me? - no, my life is a vile thing,

       Thrown to the miry highways of this world;

       You shall not die for me, you shall not, Guido;

       I am a guilty woman.

      GUIDO

       Guilty? - let those

       Who know what a thing temptation is,

       Let those who have not walked as we have done,

       In the red fire of passion, those whose lives

       Are dull and colourless, in a word let those,

       If any such there be, who have not loved,

       Cast stones against you. As for me -

      DUCHESS

       Alas!

      GUIDO

       [falling at her feet]

       You are my lady, and you are my love!

      

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