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CRAWFORD.

Say not so!

It grieves my heart to hear thee. Say not so.

CLAUDE.

I will not grieve thee then; I'll hold my tongue;

But shall I feel the less?—Oh, had she lived!

CRAWFORD.

Perhaps she had but caused thee greater sorrow;

For how would'st thou have brook'd to see her hand,
Had it so been, bestow'd upon another?

CLAUDE.

Why should I entertain a thought so painful?

(Raising his head proudly, after a thoughtful pause.)

Yes, I can entertain it, and believe

That, even as another's, it were happiness
To see her yet alive; to see her still
Looking as never eyes but hers did look;
Speaking such words as she alone could speak,

Whose soften'd sounds thrill'd through the nerves, and dwelt,

When heard no more, on the delighted fancy,

Like chanted sweetness!—All is now extinct!—
Like some base thing, unmeet for mortal eye,

The sod hath cover'd all. (After a thoughtful pause.) Hath cover'd all!