_Ferdinand._ They'll know my gait. But stay! of late I have watch'd A stranger that lives nigh, still picking weeds, Now in the swamp, now on the walls of the ruin, Now clamb'ring, like a runaway lunatic, Up to the summit of our highest mount. 130 I have watch'd him at it morning-tide and noon, Once in the moonlight. Then I stood so near, I heard him mutt'ring o'er the plant. A wizard! Some gaunt slave, prowling out for dark employments. _Osorio._ What may his name be? _Ferdinand._ That I cannot tell you. 135 Only Francesco bade an officer Speak in your name, as lord of this domain. So he was question'd, who and what he was. This was his answer: Say to the Lord Osorio, 'He that can bring the dead to life again.' 140 _Osorio._ A strange reply! _Ferdinand._ Aye--all of him is strange. He call'd himself a Christian--yet he wears The Moorish robe, as if he courted death. _Osorio._ Where does this wizard live? _Ferdinand (pointing to a distance)._ You see that brooklet? Trace its course backward thro' a narrow opening 145 It leads you to the place. _Osorio._ How shall I know it? _Ferdinand._ You can't mistake. It is a small green dale Built all around with high off-sloping hills, And from its shape our peasants aptly call it The Giant's Cradle. There's a lake in the midst, 150 And round its banks tall wood, that branches over And makes a kind of faery forest grow Down in the water. At the further end A puny cataract falls on the lake; And there (a curious sight) you see its shadow 155 For ever curling, like a wreath of smoke, Up through the foliage of those faery trees. His cot stands opposite--you cannot miss it. Some three yards up the hill a mountain ash Stretches its lower boughs and scarlet clusters 160 O'er the new thatch. _Osorio._ I shall not fail to find it. [_Exit OSORIO. FERDINAND goes into his house._ _Scene changes._ _The inside of a cottage, around which flowers and plants of various kinds are seen._ _ALBERT and MAURICE._ _Albert._ He doth believe himself an iron soul, And therefore puts he on an iron outward And those same mock habiliments of strength Hide his own weakness from himself. _Maurice._ His weakness! 165 Come, come, speak out! Your brother is a villain! Yet all the wealth, power, influence, which is yours You suffer him to hold!