Page:Miscellaneous Plays 1.pdf/94

ALICE.

He is but half persuaded; go thyself

And use thy arts—hush, here's a stranger near us.

Enter a Man who gives a letter mysteriously to Mira, and upon her making a sign to him, retires to the bottom of the stage whilst she reads it.

What read'st thou there, I pray thee, that thy brows

Knit thus ungraciously at ev'ry line?

MIRA.

Know'st thou that I must doff my silken robes,

Despoil my hair of its fair ornaments,
And clothe me in a gown of palmer's grey,
With clouted shoon and pilgrim's staff in hand
To bear me o'er rude glens and dreary wastes
To share a stony couch and empty board,
All for the proving of my right true love
For one in great distress. Ha! ha! ha! ha!
So doth this letter modestly request:
I pray thee read it.

ALICE (reading the letter).

"A deadly wound rankles in my side, and I have no skilful hand to dress it, and no kind friend to comfort me. I am laid upon the cold earth, and feel many wants I never knew before. If thou hast any love for me, and as thou hast often wish'd to prove that love, come to me quickly: but conceal thyself in the coarse weeds of a Pilgrim; my life is a forfeit to the law if any one should discover where