SCENE III.

_Rimini. The Garden of the Castle. Enter_ PAOLO _and_ FRANCESCA.

FRANCESCA. Thou hast resolved?

PAOLO. I've sworn it.

FRANCESCA. Ah, you men Can talk of love and duty in a breath; Love while you like, forget when you are tired, And salve your falsehood with some wholesome saw; But we, poor women, when we give our hearts, Give all, lose all, and never ask it back.

PAOLO. What couldst thou ask for that I have not given? With love I gave thee manly probity, Innocence, honour, self-respect, and peace. Lanciotto will return, and how shall I-- O! shame, to think of it!--how shall I look My brother in the face? take his frank hand? Return his tender glances? I should blaze With guilty blushes.

FRANCESCA. Thou canst forsake me, then, To spare thyself a little bashful pain? Paolo, dost thou know what 'tis for me, A woman--nay, a dame of highest rank-- To lose my purity? to walk a path Whose slightest slip may fill my ear with sounds That hiss me out to infamy and death? Have I no secret pangs, no self-respect, No husband's look to bear? O! worse than these, I must endure his loathsome touch; be kind When he would dally with his wife, and smile To see him play thy part. Pah! sickening thought! From that thou art exempt. Thou shalt not go! Thou dost not love me!

PAOLO. Love thee! Standing here, With countless miseries upon my head, I say, my love for thee grows day by day. It palters with my conscience, blurs my thoughts Of duty, and confuses my ideas Of right and wrong. Ere long, it will persuade My shaking manhood that all this is just.

FRANCESCA. Let it! I'll blazon it to all the world, Ere I will lose thee. Nay, if I had choice, Between our love and my lost innocence, I tell thee calmly, I would dare again The deed which we have done. O! thou art cruel To fly me, like a coward, for thy ease. When thou art gone, thou'lt flatter thy weak heart With hopes and speculations; and thou'lt swear I suffer naught, because thou dost not see. I will not live to bear it!

PAOLO. Die,--'twere best; Tis the last desperate comfort of our sin.

FRANCESCA. I'll kill myself!

PAOLO. And so would I, with joy; But crime has made a craven of me. O! For some good cause to perish in! Something A man might die for, looking in God's face; Not slinking out of life with guilt like mine Piled on the shoulders of a suicide!

FRANCESCA. Where wilt thou go?

PAOLO. I care not; anywhere Out of this Rimini. The very things That made the pleasures of my innocence Have turned against me. There is not a tree, Nor house, nor church, nor monument, whose face Took hold upon my thoughts, that does not frown Balefully on me. From their marble tombs My ancestors scowl at me; and the night Thickens to hear their hisses. I would pray, But heaven jeers at it. Turn where'er I will, A curse pursues me.

FRANCESCA. Heavens! O, say not so! I never cursed thee, love; I never moved My little finger, ere I looked to thee For my instruction.

PAOLO. But my gentleness Seems to reproach me; and, instead of joy, It whispers horror!

FRANCESCA. Cease! cease!

PAOLO. I must go.

FRANCESCA. And I must follow. All that I call life Is bound in thee. I could endure for thee More agonies than thou canst catalogue-- For thy sake, love--bearing the ill for thee! With thee, the devils could not so contrive That I would blench or falter from my love! Without thee, heaven were torture!

PAOLO. I must go. [_Going._

FRANCESCA. O! no--Paolo--dearest!-- [_Clinging to him._

PAOLO. Loose thy hold! 'Tis for thy sake, and Lanciotto's; I Am as a cipher in the reckoning. I have resolved. Thou canst but stretch the time. Keep me to-day, and I will fly to-morrow--Steal from thee like a thief. [_Struggles with her._

FRANCESCA. Paolo--love-- Indeed, you hurt me!--Do not use me thus! Kill me, but do not leave me. I will laugh-- long, gay, ringing laugh--if thou wilt draw Thy pitying sword, and stab me to the heart!

[_Enter_ LANCIOTTO _behind._]

Nay, then, one kiss!

LANCIOTTO. [_Advancing between them._] Take it: 'twill be the last.

PAOLO. Lo! Heaven is just!

FRANCESCA. The last! so be it. [_Kisses_ PAOLO.

LANCIOTTO. Ha! Dare you these tricks before my very face?

FRANCESCA. Why not? I've kissed him in the sight of heaven; Are you above it?

PAOLO. Peace, Francesca, peace!

LANCIOTTO. Paolo--why, thou sad and downcast man, Look up! I have some words to speak with thee. Thou art not guilty?

PAOLO. Yes, I am. But she Has been betrayed; so she is innocent. Her father tampered with her. I--

FRANCESCA. 'Tis false! The guilt is mine. Paolo was entrapped By love and cunning. I am shrewder far Than you suspect.

PAOLO. Lanciotto, shut thy ears; She would deceive thee.

LANCIOTTO. Silence, both of you! Is guilt so talkative in its defense? Then, let me make you judge and advocate In your own cause. You are not guilty?

PAOLO. Yes.

LANCIOTTO. Deny it--but a word--say no. Lie, lie! And I'll believe.

PAOLO. I dare not.

LANCIOTTO. Lady, you?

FRANCESCA. If I might speak for him--

LANCIOTTO. It cannot be: Speak for yourself. Do you deny your guilt?

FRANCESCA. No! I assert it; but--

LANCIOTTO. In heaven's name, hold! Will neither of you answer no to me? A nod, a hint, a sign, for your escape. Bethink you, life is centred in this thing. Speak! I will credit either. No reply? What does your crime deserve?

PAOLO. Death.

FRANCESCA. Death to both.

LANCIOTTO. Well said! You speak the law of Italy; And by the dagger you designed for me, In Pepe's hand,--your bravo?

PAOLO. It is false! If you received my dagger from his hand, He stole it.

LANCIOTTO. There, sweet heaven, I knew! And now You will deny the rest? You see, my friends, How easy of belief I have become!-- How easy 'twere to cheat me!

PAOLO. No; enough! I will not load my groaning spirit more; A lie would crush it.

LANCIOTTO. Brother, once you gave Life to this wretched piece of workmanship, When my own hand resolved its overthrow. Revoke the gift. [_Offers to stab himself._

PAOLO. [_Preventing him._] Hold, homicide!

LANCIOTTO. But think, You and Francesca may live happily, After my death, as only lovers can.

PAOLO. Live happily, after a deed like this!

LANCIOTTO. Now, look ye! there is not one hour of life Among us three. Paolo, you are armed-- You have a sword, I but a dagger: see! I mean to kill you.

FRANCESCA. [_Whispers to_ PAOLO.] Give thy sword to me.

PAOLO. Away! thou'rt frantic. I will never lift This wicked hand against thee.

LANCIOTTO. Coward, slave! Art thou so faint? Does Malatesta's blood Run in thy puny veins? Take that! [_Strikes him._

PAOLO. And more: Thou canst not offer more than I will bear.

LANCIOTTO. Paolo, what a craven has thy guilt Transformed thee to! Why, I have seen the time When thou'dst have struck at heaven for such a thing! Art thou afraid?

PAOLO. I am.

LANCIOTTO. O! infamy! Can man sink lower? I will wake thee, though:-- Thou shalt not die a coward. See! look here! [_Stabs_ FRANCESCA.

FRANCESCA. O!--O!-- [_Falls._

PAOLO. Remorseless man, dare you do this, And hope to live? Die, murderer! [_Draws, rushes at him, but pauses._

LANCIOTTO. Strike, strike! Ere thy heart fail.

PAOLO. I cannot. [_Throws away his sword._

LANCIOTTO. Dost thou see Yon bloated spider--hideous as myself-- Climbing aloft, to reach that wavering twig? When he has touched it, one of us must die. Here is the dagger.--Look at me, I say! Keep your eyes from that woman! Look, think, choose!-- Turn here to me: thou shalt not look at her!

PAOLO. O, heaven!

LANCIOTTO. 'Tis done!

PAOLO. [_Struggling with him._] O! Lanciotto, hold! Hold, for thy sake! Thou wilt repent this deed.

LANCIOTTO. I know it.

FRANCESCA. [_Rising._] Help!--O! murder!--help, help, help! [_She totters towards them, and falls._

LANCIOTTO. Our honour, boy. [_Stabs_ PAOLO; _he falls._

FRANCESCA. Paolo!

PAOLO. Hark! she calls. I pray thee, brother, help me to her side.

[LANCIOTTO _helps him to_ FRANCESCA.

LANCIOTTO. Why, there!

PAOLO. God bless thee!

LANCIOTTO. Have I not done well? What were the honour of the Malatesti, With such a living slander fixed to it? Cripple! that's something--cuckold! that is damned! You blame me?

PAOLO. No.

LANCIOTTO. You, lady?

FRANCESCA. No, my lord.

LANCIOTTO. May God forgive you! We are even now: Your blood has cleared my honour, and our name Shines to the world as ever.

PAOLO. O!--O!--

FRANCESCA. Love, Art suffering?

PAOLO. But for thee.

FRANCESCA. Here, rest thy head Upon my bosom. Fie upon my blood! It stains thy ringlets. Ha! he dies! Kind saints, I was first struck, why cannot I die first? Paolo, wake!--God's mercy! wilt thou go Alone--without me? Prithee, strike again! Nay, I am better--love--now--O! [_Dies._

LANCIOTTO. [_Sinks upon his knees._] Great heaven!

MALATESTA. [_Without._] This way, I heard the cries.

_Enter with_ GUIDO, ATTENDANTS, _etc._

GUIDO. O! horrible!

MALATESTA. O! bloody spectacle! Where is thy brother?

LANCIOTTO. So Cain was asked. Come here, old men! You shrink From two dead bodies and a pool of blood-- You soldiers, too! Come here! [_Drags_ MALATESTA _and_ GUIDO _forward._

MALATESTA. O!--O!--

LANCIOTTO. You groan! What must I do, then? Father, here it is,-- The blood of Guido mingled with our own, As my old nurse predicted. And the spot Of her infernal baptism burns my brain Till reason shudders! Down, upon your knees! Ay, shake them harder, and perchance they'll wake. Keep still! Kneel, kneel! You fear them? I shall prowl About these bodies till the day of doom.

MALATESTA. What hast thou done?

GUIDO. Francesca!--O! my child!

LANCIOTTO. Can howling make this sight more terrible? Peace! You disturb the angels up in heaven, While they are hiding from this ugly earth. Be satisfied with what you see. You two Began this tragedy, I finished it. Here, by these bodies, let us reckon up Our crimes together. Why, how still they lie! A moment since, they walked, and talked, and kissed! Defied me to my face, dishonoured me! They had the power to do it then; but now, Poor souls, who'll shield them in eternity? Father, the honour of our house is safe: I have the secret. I will to the wars, And do more murders, to eclipse this one. Back to the battles; there I breathe in peace; And I will take a soldier's honour back.-- Honour! what's that to me now? Ha! ha! ha! [_Laughing._] A great thing, father! I am very ill. I killed thy son for honour: thou mayst chide. O God! I cannot cheat myself with words! I loved him more than honour--more than life-- This man, Paolo--this stark, bleeding corpse! Here let me rest, till God awake us all! [_Falls on PAOLO'S body._