ACT III

SCENE.--A Garden.

Enter Lady Montgomery and Captain Mercer.

Mercer. I'm glad we've met. How long ago was that? Lady M. Since she was stolen it is fourteen years; Yet in that time no tears have wet my eyes: For when we knew the darling child was lost, My husband all his other hopes gave up-- His office, and advancement, whose sure strides Pursued him constantly, dogged as time; His friends and schemes political; his fame, Which years and dignity bore shoulder-high: He gave them all to buy this little pearl Whose price exceeds the value of the world. O, in our heart her dainty shape is shrined, And keeps it pulsing; and she goes not out Till wintry death expel her summer reign, And freeze that ruddy home to be his house. Mercer. Why, fourteen years ago I lost a wife, The sweetest girl that ever blessed a man. Some happy months, and then I crossed the seas: I sailed from Naples, and she went to Rome. When I returned my friends in Rome were gone, Whither I found not. Then my wife had died, I thought, in child-bed, and looked up the news. I did not there discover what I feared, But found in place a most conflicting tale Of brigandage; and murders had been done. Some ransomed, some let go, some corpses found, Left unaccounted for a child and woman. I searched until my purse and I were lank, In hope to find these two; then, back to sea. Having made many voyages and much wealth I still pursued my calling, for in it I found from sorrow, refuge; though, alone, In midnight watches I have often wept To hear the waves with melancholy tongues Lapping my ship, to see the crowded stars Rejoicing like a family in heaven. And so I marvel that you, being a woman, From weeping should refrain since love so great Beats in your heart for such a priceless loss. Lady M. The war of hope and fear made desolate The wine-press of our tears immediately; And since the imminence of our great loss, Our constant, wearisome world-wandering Has all unqualified our eyes for tears: I tell you we have gone through all the world. First every city, town, Italian croft, All hermitages, and all robbers' dens, From wintry Blanc to fiery Aetna's base, We searched, or sharpened others' eyes with gold To ransack for our treasure: if two beings, Having between them for their inspiration One soul alone, might lose it, and yet move To seek their riven life, with wanner looks, With ghostlier, more eagle-sighted eyes, Than those with which we glanced through Italy, They could not pierce the region that they haunt: Obscurity was all revealed to us. Thereafter every morn a measured space Of weary world our gaunt eyes oversee: Round with the day from east to west we go. Twelve years, now past, from Rome we westward hied; And here, grown old, foot-sore, heart-sore, and poor In earthly gold, but rich in hope's bright coin We wander west again. Mercer. Most noble souls! You shall not lack for gold while I have wealth. O, you administer a chastisement To my unwinged proceedings in my search For wife and child, which should have distanced yours Who travel only for a daughter. Lady M. No; She is our niece, but loved more than a daughter. Mercer. I never heard, nor read, of such a love. Lady M. O, but you never saw, nor shall behold, So lovable a creature! I would more Lose her and pine for her than be the dame, The happy dame, of seven lusty boys Like any I have seen--the loveliest. Mercer. What kin is she?--your husband's or your own? Lady M. Her father was my husband's elder brother; His wife died when our little one was born. I reared her, loved her, and her infancy Laid hold upon my husband. Six years passed; And then her father wished her back again. Upon that news a sickness of my husband's Became a malady that claimed my care, Dividing so my grief. A worthy priest, Once chaplain to her father, leaving us-- We spent the summer in the Apennines-- We trusted our one jewel to his care. But on the way a brigand regiment Killed him and others who would not submit. The captives being ransomed, she was missed, She and her nurse; and fourteen years reveal But little further light. Her father's dead; She is our ward; and we, her only friends. Mercer. What news is this! A woman and a child In both our stories unaccounted for! You spoke of further light. Lady M. Hope not too much. We met one, Julio, twice among the hills, Where he confessed he led the robber-band That wrought our woe; but of the nurse and child Professed whole innocence and ignorance. When he was captured and condemned to die He asked to see my husband. Penitent, He told him all he knew, a dreadful tale. While others plundered, he had marked a maid Who carried in her arms a lisping child: Seizing his fancy, her he laid hold upon; She struggled hard; he in his greedy haste-- For though the leader, if he took her not And any other were possessed of her, He might not claim her--the loud-screaming babe Tore from her, bent to kill; but on its breast, Its clothing being rent, there gleamed a cross Of gold, whereon in diamonds quaintly set Christ hung on ruby nails with ruby blood: It turned aside his purpose. Nigh them knelt Another woman, wringing of her hands, And weeping o'er another infant dead. Afraid to desecrate the symbol blest, He pressed the child, from early earthly death Saved by the cross, into this Rachel's arms, And swung the maid, discumbered harshly so, Upon his horse, and kept her for his own. The other woman with the cross-saved child Escaped, and took with her a store of gold. Mercer. This woman who escaped must be my wife: It is my wife! Resource was still her forte; By countless proofs her sleight of head she showed, Nor were her hands less cunning in their kind. I have not known in any clime of earth, Where trade constrained, or pleasure led me on, One of her sex likelier for such a deed As this checkmating of the brigand band: And with it all a girl most feminine; The deepest scrutiny would never dream What strength lay sleeping with an open eye Beneath her melting gaze and rosy mouth, Like fire that underburns a flowery mead. Pardon me, pray, I have not talked of her To any one alive for many years. Why she should travel in that company, Not leaving word, nor sending any news, I can but marvel. Lady M. Here my husband comes.

Enter Sir James Montgomery.

Sir James. News, news! Lady M. O heaven! Sir James. I'll tell you as we go. [They go out.