No, do not touch me, Between us lies a thin red stream of blood; I dare not look across it: when you stabbed him You stabbed Love with a sharp knife to the heart. We cannot meet again. DUCHESS [_wringing her hands_] For you! For you! I did it all for you: have you forgotten? You said there was a barrier between us; That barrier lies now i’ the upper chamber Upset, overthrown, beaten, and battered down, And will not part us ever. GUIDO No, you mistook: Sin was the barrier, you have raised it up; Crime was the barrier, you have set it there. The barrier was murder, and your hand Has builded it so high it shuts out heaven, It shuts out God. DUCHESS I did it all for you; You dare not leave me now: nay, Guido, listen. Get horses ready, we will fly to-night. The past is a bad dream, we will forget it: Before us lies the future: shall we not have Sweet days of love beneath our vines and laugh?— No, no, we will not laugh, but, when we weep, Well, we will weep together; I will serve you; I will be very meek and very gentle: You do not know me. GUIDO Nay, I know you now; Get hence, I say, out of my sight. DUCHESS [_pacing up and down_] O God, How I have loved this man! GUIDO You never loved me. Had it been so, Love would have stayed your hand. How could we sit together at Love’s table? You have poured poison in the sacred wine, And Murder dips his fingers in the sop. DUCHESS [_throws herself on her knees_] Then slay me now! I have spilt blood to-night, You shall spill more, so we go hand in hand To heaven or to hell. Draw your sword, Guido. Quick, let your soul go chambering in my heart, It will but find its master’s image there. Nay, if you will not slay me with your sword, Bid me to fall upon this reeking knife, And I will do it. GUIDO [_wresting knife from her_] Give it to me, I say. O God, your very hands are wet with blood! This place is Hell, I cannot tarry here. I pray you let me see your face no more. DUCHESS Better for me I had not seen your face. [GUIDO _recoils_: _she seizes his hands as she kneels_.] Nay, Guido, listen for a while: Until you came to Padua I lived Wretched indeed, but with no murderous thought, Very submissive to a cruel Lord, Very obedient to unjust commands, As pure I think as any gentle girl Who now would turn in horror from my hands— [_Stands up_.]