Chapter 14

Enter _Longueville_ and _Sanguine_.

_Long._ Tardy, neglectful slave! still does he loiter?

_Sang._ Nay, return to the pavilion; the signal soon must greet us: you bade Lenoire to sound his bugle when he reached the bank.

_Long._ Ay, thrice the blast should be repeated; still must I listen for those notes of destiny in vain? hark! here you nothing now?

_Sang._ Only the rising tide that murmurs hoarsly as it frets and chafes against the bank below us.

_Long._ Is midnight passed?

_Sang._ Long since: just as we crossed the glen the monastery chime swang heavy with the knell of yesterday.

_Long._ A guiltless end that flighted yesterday hath reached. O! that the morrow found as clear a tomb! When the next midnight tolls, Eugenia, thou wilt rest in blessedness, whilst thy murderer-- Ah! what charmed couch shall bring the sweet forgetful slumber at that hour to me? Midnight, the welcome sabbath of unstained souls, O, to the murderer thou art terrible--silence and darkness that with the innocent make blessed time, to him bring curses, for then through sealed ears and close-veiled eyes, strange sounds and sights will steal their way, that in the hum and glare of day-light dare not stir: then o'er the wretch's forehead ooze cold beads of dew--in feverish, brain-sick dreams, with starts and groans: on beds of seeming down he feels the griding rack, and finds himself a hell more fierce, than fiends can show hereafter.

_Sang._ How now, my lord? unmanned by conscience? Nay, then, let Eugenia live.

_Long._ Not for an angel's birthright! think'st thou I would deign to breathe on wretched sufferance? No, no; her death is necessary to my honor and my peace. Come on! my hand may falter, but my heart's resolved; 'tis sworn, inexorably sworn: Eugenia dies. [_Exeunt._