_Al._ Question not so, or I will never tell. _Sa._ Have pity, Almeh, and tell me. _Al._ Then ’tis thus. My father gave it me this very hour, As herald of the prince whom it portrays. 380 He comes on double mission, first to fight Against our foes ... _Sa._ Hast thou consented, Almeh? _Al._ If ’tis my father’s will, and if the prince Be earnest in his courtship ... _Sa._ Ah! thou dost wish it. _Al._ My wish can count but little: but my wish Is not for this nor any other marriage. _Sa._ Thou hast yielded to the thought. Would I had died On Ferdinand’s sword; or that his ear had ne’er Heard my ill-fated name, Sala, far happier Chained in a Spanish galley, than set free 390 To find thee in a rival’s arms. _Al._ O shame! How have I yielded? _Sa._ Thou hast taken in hand This cursèd portrait: held it ... _Al._ Nay, I pray. _Sa._ Gazed on it, fondled it: a pictured boy! Thy champion. _Al._ I bid thee think.... _Sa._ A painted image! _Al._ And what, pray, wouldst thou have had me do? _Sa._ What do? Never to have taken it: refused it: scorned it: Cast it beneath thy feet: trodden it to atoms. _Al._ Thou wrongst me, Sala, now: thou art overcome With fasting and much fighting. _Sa._ O, I am wronged 400 To have the temper of my passion judged As hunger or fatigue. Here is thy picture, Thy lover. Take it back. Farewell. I go, But not to eat or rest. Almeh, farewell: I would have died for thee. _Al._ Nay, go not thus Unkindly. _Sa._ ’Tis farewell: but not unkindness, Lest thou shouldst say my last word was unkindness, I will go seek the king, and shall persuade him Ere I depart to grant the Christian captives The little liberty which thou hast asked: 410 Then to the war; wherein I pray that heaven Hath laid my death: if anywhere on earth Within my reach, I’ll find it. O farewell. The Angels guard thee. [_Going._ _Al._ I bid thee go not thus. ACT · II _ALMEH and ZAPEL listening. The Christian Captives are singing at back among the trees._ CHORUS. _Jesu dulcis memoria, Dans vera cordis gaudia; Sed super mel et omnia Ejus dulcis præsentia._ _ZAPEL._ How strange a moan! _ALMEH._ Hush, Zapel, hush: go in. Leave me. Stay, I will go with thee so far 420 That they shall think we both are gone. This way. _Almeh and Zapel go aside. Exit Zapel. Almeh enters arbour._ CHORUS. _Jesu decus angelicum, In aure dulce canticum, In ore mel mirificum, In corde nectar cælicum._