AHASUERUS [_Starting up_]. It was not I, It was the slave Harbonah poisoned him, Not I. I was not there. I never knew. Horrible white face with the blotch of death; Harbonah gave it in the honey cake-- The honey cake, I never gave it you. I was not at the feast, it is well known I was most sick that night. [_He wakes._] Merach! Merach! begone! It was not Merach, But someone at the footing of the bed. Someone, a Jew, with bones instead of face And blood that dripped. [_He gropes at foot of bed. He rises._] O blessed night, so full of peace, so calm, After that horror. Ah! I know it now, What the Chaldean told me long ago, That I should know no quiet rest at night, Being a King, unless I ate of bread Baked in a house where sorrow never came. O blessed bread, would I could eat of thee! [_Goes Back._] Guards! are the gates secure? GUARDS [_Off_]. God save the King! The King’s gates are made sure, and the gates’ keys Here, under guard. May the King live for ever! AHASUERUS. The sentries on the walls; do they report All quiet in the city? GUARD. All, great King. AHASUERUS. No armed men moving, no suspicious thing? GUARD. Nothing, O Son of Heaven, but silent darkness, And here and there a priest of the great sun Praying long life and blessing on our Monarch. AHASUERUS. Long life, long misery! It is within this room the horror is-- That thing, that Jew, that thing out of the grave. No, nothing, nothing! I can see there’s nothing. So--I will sleep. I will repeat that song Made long ago by one who could not sleep, To help his fellow-sufferers. [_Repeats._] _Along the beach a wave comes slowly in, And breaks, and dies away, and dies away_; The moon is dimmed and all the ropes are taut. _Along the beach a wave comes slowly in, And breaks and dies away, and dies away_, It is no season, sailor, to quit port. _Along_--etc. [_He sleeps._] [_Enter_ GHOST OF THARES. _The_ GHOST _comes behind_ AHASUERUS _and across stage. It stands still and hinnies like a snipe._] AHASUERUS [_In his sleep_]. O no! Spare me! Spare me! Loose me my hands. O they have tied my feet! I cannot get from bed, and now they come. Merciful Gods! my thigh-bones are both broken. I cannot stir. Who is it gibbering there? Who are you? Who? THARES [_In a disguised, piping voice_]. The shadow of what I was, Come for your blood. AHASUERUS. I’ll give you gold--my kingdom-- But let me go! THARES [_Creeping slowly across, hands out_].