Page:Dramas 2.pdf/71

Still thou art mine; my sworn, my wedded love,
And still as such I'll hold thee.

COUNTESS.

Heaven bids us part: yea, Nature bids us part.

GARCIO.

Heaven bids us part! Then let it send its lightning

To strike me from thy side. Let yawning earth,
Op'ning beneath my feet, divide us. Then,
And not till then, will I from thee be sever'd.

COUNTESS.

Let go thy terrible grasp: thou would'st not o'er me

A dreaded tyrant rule? Beneath thy power
Thou may'st indeed retain me, crush'd, degraded,
Watching in secret horror every glance
Of thy perturbed eye, like a quell'd slave,
If this suffice thee; but all ties of love—
All sympathy between us now is broken
And lost for ever.

GARCIO.

And canst thou be so ruthless? No, thou canst not!

Let Heaven in its just vengeance deal with me!
Let pain, remorse, disease, and every ill
Here in this world of nature be my portion!
And in the world of spirits too well I know
The murd'rer's doom abides me.