To stand true to a cause because ’tis noble, Tho’ it be thankless; to command a people 960 Against a tyranny, and teach their arms To enforce the reasonable rights of life, Beneath the crushing bond of wealth and power;— To be an outcast, but to leave a name Untarnished and beloved, remembered long;— That was my choice, my hope. Can I now waver? Shall I—having so well begun— Step up into a throne above the throng, And smiling on them from the hated height, Take life at ease? Nay, when ’tis reasoned so, 970 ’Tis hideous.—But, oh! thou treacherous enemy, Thou selfish and unanswerable passion, That bluntest resolution, and criest down The voice of virtue! Margaret, Margaret! Would I had never seen thee, or believed I could not win thee. If I now could fly, I might go free. _Squarcialupu, who has appeared at the window, gradually thrusting his head between the curtains, and peering round, enters._ _SQUARCIALUPU._ _Sq._ Captain! _Pal._ Ha! Squarcialupu! Why, what! how com’st thou here? what dost thou? _Sq._ Hush! _Pal._ Begone, I pray. _Sq._ Nay, now I have found thee, captain. Thine arm is it only? _Pal._ A prick in the arm. _Sq._ So, so! 980 Then thou canst come. _Pal._ Tell me, how didst thou learn That I was here? _Sq._ We guessed it from thy track. _Pal._ O, God! I’m tracked? _Sq._ Thy blood is on the wall. I undertook to tell thee. In the dusk I scaled this window at the back of the house: Had my old luck, captain. Make haste and fly. _Pal._ Stay, stay! I cannot. Is it known to any I am hiding here? _Sq._ What use to stay for that? Come ere they know it. _Pal._ I cannot. _Sq._ I can help thee. 990 _Pal._ Nay, ’tis not that, altho’ I am bled to death. ’Tis honour holds me. _Sq._ Honour will not help Manuel nor thee, if they should search his house. But if thou fliest ... _Pal._ I may not. _Sq._ That’s no word Where life’s at stake. What shall I tell thy men? _Pal._ Where are they? _Sq._ At the news of thy escape They gathered on the hills, and wait thee there. I met a man in the town an hour ago, Who said he had seen thee riding on the road To Monreale. All the folk’s astir. 1000 _Pal._ I cannot come. _Sq._ Give me not such a word. Who would believe I had seen thee, if I said Palicio lieth safe in Manuel’s house, And saith he cannot come?