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from her]

       O damned saint! O angel fresh from Hell!

       What bloody devil tempted thee to this!

       That thou hast killed thy husband, that is nothing -

       Hell was already gaping for his soul -

       But thou hast murdered Love, and in its place

       Hast set a horrible and bloodstained thing,

       Whose very breath breeds pestilence and plague,

       And strangles Love.

      DUCHESS

      [in amazed wonder]

       I did it all for you.

       I would not have you do it, had you willed it,

       For I would keep you without blot or stain,

       A thing unblemished, unassailed, untarnished.

       Men do not know what women do for love.

       Have I not wrecked my soul for your dear sake,

       Here and hereafter?

      GUIDO

      No, do not touch me,

       Between us lies a thin red stream of blood;

       I dare not look across it: when you stabbed him

       You stabbed Love with a sharp knife to the heart.

       We cannot meet again.

      DUCHESS

      [wringing her hands]

       For you! For you!

       I did it all for you: have you forgotten?

       You said there was a barrier between us;

       That barrier lies now i’ the upper chamber

       Upset, overthrown, beaten, and battered down,

       And will not part us ever.

      GUIDO

      No, you mistook:

       Sin was the barrier, you have raised it up;

       Crime was the barrier, you have set it there.

       The barrier was murder, and your hand

       Has builded it so high it shuts out heaven,

       It shuts out God.

      DUCHESS

      I did it all for you;

       You dare not leave me now: nay, Guido, listen.

       Get horses ready, we will fly tonight.

       The past is a bad dream, we will forget it:

       Before us lies the future: shall we not have

       Sweet days of love beneath our vines and laugh? -

       No, no, we will not laugh, but, when we weep,

       Well, we will weep together; I will serve you;

       I will be very meek and very gentle:

       You do not know me.

      GUIDO

      Nay, I know you now;

       Get hence, I say, out of my sight.

      DUCHESS

      [pacing up and down]

       O God,

       How I have loved this man!

      GUIDO

      You never loved me.

       Had it been so, Love would have stayed your hand.

       How could we sit together at Love’s table?

       You have poured poison in the sacred wine,

       And Murder dips his fingers in the sop.

      DUCHESS

      [throws herself on her knees]

       Then slay me now! I have spilt blood tonight,

       You shall spill more, so we go hand in hand

       To heaven or to hell. Draw your sword, Guido.

       Quick, let your soul go chambering in my heart,

       It will but find its master’s image there.

       Nay, if you will not slay me with your sword,

       Bid me to fall upon this reeking knife,

       And I will do it.

      GUIDO

      [wresting knife from her]

       Give it to me, I say.

       O God, your very hands are wet with blood!

       This place is Hell, I cannot tarry here.

       I pray you let me see your face no more.

      DUCHESS

      Better for me I had not seen your face.

       [GUIDO recoils: she seizes his hands as she kneels.]

       Nay, Guido, listen for a while:

       Until you came to Padua I lived

       Wretched indeed, but with no murderous thought,

       Very submissive to a cruel Lord,

       Very obedient to unjust commands,

      As pure I think as any gentle girl

       Who now would turn in horror from my hands -

       [Stands up.]

       You came: ah! Guido, the first kindly words

       I ever heard since I had come from France

       Were from your lips: well, well, that is no matter.

       You came, and in the passion of your eyes

       I read love’s meaning; everything you said

       Touched my dumb soul to music, so I loved you.

       And yet I did not tell you of my love.

       ‘Twas you who sought me out, knelt at my feet

       As I kneel now at yours, and with sweet vows,

       [Kneels.]

       Whose music seems to linger in my ears,

       Swore that you loved me, and I trusted you.

       I think there are many women in the world

       Who would have tempted you to kill the man.

       I did not.

       Yet I know that had I done so,

       I had not been thus humbled in the dust,

       [Stands up.]

       But you had loved me very faithfully.

       [After a pause approaches him timidly.]

       I do not think you understand me, Guido:

       It was for your sake that I wrought this deed

       Whose horror now chills my young blood to ice,

       For your sake only. [Stretching out her arm.]

       Will you not speak to me?

       Love me a little: in my girlish life

       I have been starved for love, and kindliness

       Has passed me by.

      GUIDO

      I dare not look at you:

       You come to me with too pronounced a favour;

       Get to your tirewomen.

      DUCHESS

      Ay, there it is!

       There speaks the man! yet had you come to me

       With any heavy sin upon your soul,

       Some

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