GARC. I cannot live unless you kindly pardon my rash errors; resolve either to punish or to forgive. ELV. Alas! I have shown too clearly my resolution; do we not pardon a criminal when we tell him we cannot hate him? GARC. Ah! this is too much. Suffer me, adorable Princess... ELV. Forbear, I am angry with myself for my weakness. GARC. (_Alone_). At length I am... SCENE VII.--DON GARCIA, DON LOPEZ. LOP. My Lord, I have to communicate to you a secret that may justly alarm your love. GARC. Do not talk to me of secrets or alarms, whilst I am in such a blissful rapture. After what has just taken place, I ought not to listen to any suspicions. The unequalled kindness of a divine object ought to shut my ears against all such idle reports. Do not say anything more. LOP. My Lord, I shall do as you wish; my only care in this business was for you. I thought that the secret I just discovered ought to be communicated with all diligence; but since it is your pleasure I should not mention it, I shall change the conversation, and inform you that every family in Leon threw off the mask, as soon as the report spread that the troops of Castile were approaching; the lower classes especially show openly such an affection for their true King, that the tyrant trembles for fear. GARC. Castile, however, shall not gain the victory without our making an attempt to share in the glory; our troops may also be able to terrify Mauregat. But what secret would you communicate to me? Let us hear it? LOP. My Lord, I have nothing to say. [Footnote: Compare Iago's reticence in Shakespeare's _Othello_ (iii. 3).] GARC. Come, come, speak, I give you leave. LOP. My Lord, your words have told me differently; and since my news may displease you, I shall know for the future how to remain silent. GARC. Without further reply, I wish to know your secret. LOP. Your commands must be obeyed; but, my Lord, duty forbids me to explain such a secret in this place. Let us go hence, and I shall communicate it to you; without taking anything lightly for granted, you yourself shall judge what you ought to think of it. ACT III. SCENE I.--DONNA ELVIRA, ELIZA. ELV. What say you, Eliza, to this unaccountable weakness in the heart of a Princess? What do you say when you see me so quickly forego my desire for revenge, and, in spite of so much publicity, weakly and shamefully pardon so cruel an outrage. EL. I say, Madam, that an insult from a man we love is doubtless very difficult to bear; but if there be none which makes us sooner angry, so there is none which we sooner pardon. If the man we love is guilty, and throws himself at our feet, he triumphs over the rash outbreak of the greatest anger; so much the more easily, Madam, if the offence comes from an excess of love. However great your displeasure may have been, I am not astonished to see it appeased; I know the power which, in spite of your threats, will always pardon such crimes.