The PRINCESS EBOLI's apartment.
The PRINCESS in a simple, but elegant dress, playing on the lute.
The QUEEN's PAGE enters.
PRINCESS
(starting up suddenly)
He comes!
PAGE
(abruptly).
Are you alone? I wonder much
He is not here already; but he must
Be here upon the instant.
PRINCESS.
Do you say must!
Then he will come, this much is certain then.
PAGE.
He's close upon my steps. You are beloved,
Adored, and with more passionate regard
Than mortal ever was, or can be loved.
Oh! what a scene I witnessed!
PRINCESS
(impatiently draws him to her).
Quick, you spoke
With him! What said he? Tell me straight—
How did he look? what were his words? And say—
Did he appear embarrassed or confused
And did he guess who sent the key to him?
Be quick! or did he not? He did not guess
At all, perhaps! or guessed amiss! Come, speak,
How! not a word to answer me? Oh, fie!
You never were so dull—so slow before,
'Tis past all patience.
PAGE.
Dearest lady, hear me!
Both key and note I placed within his hands,
In the queen's antechamber, and he started
And gazed with wonder when I told him that
A lady sent me!
PRINCESS.
Did he start? go on!
That's excellent. Proceed, what next ensued?
PAGE.
I would have told him more, but he grew pale,
And snatched the letter from my hand, and said
With look of deadly menace, he knew all.
He read the letter with confusion through,
And straight began to tremble.
PRINCESS.
He knew all!
He knew it all? Were those his very words?
PAGE.
He asked me, and again he asked, if you
With your own hands had given me the letter?
PRINCESS.
If I? Then did he mention me by name?
PAGE.
By name! no name he mentioned: there might be
Listeners, he said, about the palace, who
Might to the king disclose it.
PRINCESS
(surprised).
Said he that?
PAGE.
He further said, it much concerned the king;
Deeply concerned—to know of that same letter.
PRINCESS.
The king! Nay, are you sure you heard him right?
The king! Was that the very word he used?
PAGE.
It was. He called it a most perilous secret,
And warned me to be strictly on my guard,
Never with word or look to give the king
Occasion for suspicion.
PRINCESS
(after a pause, with astonishment).
All agrees!
It can be nothing else—he must have heard
The tale—'tis very strange! Who could have told him,
I wonder who? The eagle eye of love
Alone could pierce so far. But tell me further—
He read the letter.
PAGE.
Which, he said, conveyed
Such bliss as made him tremble, and till then
He had not dared to dream of. As he spoke
The duke, by evil chance, approached the room,
And this compelled us——
PRINCESS
(angrily).
What in all the world
Could bring the duke to him at such a time?
What can detain him? Why appears he not?
See how you've been deceived; how truly blest
Might he have been already—in the time
You've taken to describe his wishes to me!
PAGE.
The duke, I fear——
PRINCESS.
Again, the duke! What can
The duke want here? What should a warrior want
With my soft dreams of happiness? He should
Have left him there, or sent him from his presence.
Where is the man may not be treated thus?
But Carlos seems as little versed in love
As in a woman's heart—he little knows
What minutes are. But hark! I hear a step;
Away, away!
   [PAGE hastens out.
Where have I laid my lute?
I must not seem to wait for him. My song
Shall be a signal to him.
The PRINCESS in a simple, but elegant dress, playing on the lute.
The QUEEN's PAGE enters.
PRINCESS
(starting up suddenly)
He comes!
PAGE
(abruptly).
Are you alone? I wonder much
He is not here already; but he must
Be here upon the instant.
PRINCESS.
Do you say must!
Then he will come, this much is certain then.
PAGE.
He's close upon my steps. You are beloved,
Adored, and with more passionate regard
Than mortal ever was, or can be loved.
Oh! what a scene I witnessed!
PRINCESS
(impatiently draws him to her).
Quick, you spoke
With him! What said he? Tell me straight—
How did he look? what were his words? And say—
Did he appear embarrassed or confused
And did he guess who sent the key to him?
Be quick! or did he not? He did not guess
At all, perhaps! or guessed amiss! Come, speak,
How! not a word to answer me? Oh, fie!
You never were so dull—so slow before,
'Tis past all patience.
PAGE.
Dearest lady, hear me!
Both key and note I placed within his hands,
In the queen's antechamber, and he started
And gazed with wonder when I told him that
A lady sent me!
PRINCESS.
Did he start? go on!
That's excellent. Proceed, what next ensued?
PAGE.
I would have told him more, but he grew pale,
And snatched the letter from my hand, and said
With look of deadly menace, he knew all.
He read the letter with confusion through,
And straight began to tremble.
PRINCESS.
He knew all!
He knew it all? Were those his very words?
PAGE.
He asked me, and again he asked, if you
With your own hands had given me the letter?
PRINCESS.
If I? Then did he mention me by name?
PAGE.
By name! no name he mentioned: there might be
Listeners, he said, about the palace, who
Might to the king disclose it.
PRINCESS
(surprised).
Said he that?
PAGE.
He further said, it much concerned the king;
Deeply concerned—to know of that same letter.
PRINCESS.
The king! Nay, are you sure you heard him right?
The king! Was that the very word he used?
PAGE.
It was. He called it a most perilous secret,
And warned me to be strictly on my guard,
Never with word or look to give the king
Occasion for suspicion.
PRINCESS
(after a pause, with astonishment).
All agrees!
It can be nothing else—he must have heard
The tale—'tis very strange! Who could have told him,
I wonder who? The eagle eye of love
Alone could pierce so far. But tell me further—
He read the letter.
PAGE.
Which, he said, conveyed
Such bliss as made him tremble, and till then
He had not dared to dream of. As he spoke
The duke, by evil chance, approached the room,
And this compelled us——
PRINCESS
(angrily).
What in all the world
Could bring the duke to him at such a time?
What can detain him? Why appears he not?
See how you've been deceived; how truly blest
Might he have been already—in the time
You've taken to describe his wishes to me!
PAGE.
The duke, I fear——
PRINCESS.
Again, the duke! What can
The duke want here? What should a warrior want
With my soft dreams of happiness? He should
Have left him there, or sent him from his presence.
Where is the man may not be treated thus?
But Carlos seems as little versed in love
As in a woman's heart—he little knows
What minutes are. But hark! I hear a step;
Away, away!
   [PAGE hastens out.
Where have I laid my lute?
I must not seem to wait for him. My song
Shall be a signal to him.
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