Elsie.
[With great fervor.]
Oh, sunny glimpse upon my mistwrapt sky!
Oh, star of hope amid my woeful night!
Faint though thou be, I bless thy welcome light!
Santa Anna.
My game—I fear me — has gone wrong again.
Our laws 'gainst treason are severe and harsh,
And one important service can alone
Unfasten Colonel Bradburn's prison-door.
If would his daughter's love, as duty-bound,
Off-set her father's clearly-proven guilt
By parting with her secret's treasured knowledge.
Elsie.
And she will not—not—not! though all of you,
Though all the world hissed her with cries of shame,.
E'en though her father, struggling on his knees,
Craved from her lips the mercy of his life.
A thousand years I gladly would endure
—Could it be done—for him the dungeon's curse,
A thousand times I fain would undergo
For him the pangs of death; but never shall
My country's weal and woe be jeopardized
