_Dou._ [_not minding him._] As I and Percy! When at the marriage rites, O rites accurs'd! I seiz'd her trembling hand, she started back, Cold horror thrill'd her veins, her tears flow'd fast. Fool that I was, I thought 'twas maiden fear; Dull, doting ignorance! beneath those terrors, Hatred for me and love for Percy lurk'd. _Raby._ What proof of guilt is this? _Dou._ E'er since our marriage, Our days have still been cold and joyless all; Painful restraint, and hatred ill disguis'd, Her sole return for all my waste of fondness. This very morn I told her 'twas your will She should repair to court; with all those graces, Which first subdued my soul, and still enslave it, She begg'd to stay behind in Raby Castle, For courts and cities had no charms for her. Curse my blind love! I was again ensnar'd, And doted on the sweetness which deceiv'd me. Just at the hour she thought I should be absent, (For chance could ne'er have tim'd their guilt so well,) Arriv'd young Harcourt, one of Percy's knights, Strictly enjoin'd to speak to none but her; I seiz'd the miscreant: hitherto he's silent, But tortures soon shall force him to confess! _Raby._ Percy is absent--They have never met. _Dou._ At what a feeble hold you grasp for succour! Will it content me that her person's pure? No, if her alien heart dotes on another, She is unchaste, were not that other Percy. Let vulgar spirits basely wait for proof, She loves another--'tis enough for Douglas. _Raby._ Be patient. _Dou._ Be a tame convenient husband, And meanly wait for circumstantial guilt? No--I am nice as the first Caesar was, And start at bare suspicion. [_going._ _Raby._ [_holding him._] Douglas, hear me; Thou hast nam'd a Roman husband; if she's false, I mean to prove myself a Roman father. [_exit Douglas._ This marriage was my work, and thus I'm punish'd! _Enter Elwina._ _Elw._ Where is my father? let me fly to meet him, O let me clasp his venerable knees, And die of joy in his belov'd embrace! _Raby._ [_avoiding her embrace._] Elwina! _Elw._ And is that all? so cold? _Raby._ [_sternly._] Elwina! _Elw._ Then I'm undone indeed! How stern his looks! I will not be repuls'd, I am your child, The child of that dear mother you ador'd; You shall not throw me off, I will grow here, And, like the patriarch, wrestle for a blessing. _Raby._ [_holding her from him._] Before I take thee in these aged arms, Press thee with transport to this beating heart, And give a loose to all a parent's fondness, Answer, and see thou answer me as truly As if the dread inquiry came from heaven,-- Does no interior sense of guilt confound thee? Canst thou lay all thy naked soul before me? Can thy unconscious eye encounter mine? Canst thou endure the probe, and never shrink? Can thy firm hand meet mine, and never tremble? Art thou prepar'd to meet the rigid Judge? Or to embrace the fond, the melting, father? _Elw._ Mysterious Heaven! to what am I reserv'd!