Oh! I am slain! Give over, dear father: fight no more for me, my brave Humphry.
[A general outcry and panic; and they all close about him, Ardensupporting him as he sinks to the ground, andMrs. Ardenkneeling by him distractedly.]
MRS. ARDEN.
Slain! O! no, no, no! Thou art wounded, love, but not slain: Heaven will not suffer such cruelty.—Run, O run for assistance immediately!
YOUNG ARDEN.
My dear, dear mother! nothing can save me.
MRS. ARDEN.
Say not so. No, no! thou wilt be saved.
YOUNG ARDEN.
There is sure and speedy death in this wound: I feel it, and I am glad of it. Move me not from this spot; torment me not with any vain assistance, but let me quietly go where I ought to go—where I wish to go; for it is not meet that I should live.
MRS. ARDEN.
No, no! thou shalt live! I will breathe my soul into thee; I will encircle thee, and grow into thee with the warm life of a mother. Death shall not tear thee from me!
