"What signifies thy wild raving?"———
"Thou art mistaken; my resentment is cool and collected, dare you own yourselves the murderers of the beautiful Elmira?"
"I swear it, Don Carlos: by the eternal God! By the terrors of this mystic cave! By this cross and dagger! We did not murder her."
"Then pardon me, holy Sire. Let my despair seize the ruffian—"
"Thou wilt, one day, attain him by our means."
"Do you promise it faithfully?"
"Our promise is sacred."
"Then will I be yours———wholly yours. Speak, command, what shall I do?"
"Nothing but to discard all doubts; to confide in our decrees; to obey our ordinances; to act thy part manfully. Daggers and poison are the solace of humanity. From the urn of one spring up a thousand lives. If human weal desire the fall of that one man, were he the monarch himself———he ought to fall.—"
