ARETHUSA. O Kit, you know my heart. But he is alone, and I am his only comfort; and I owe all to him; and shall I not obey my father? But, Kit, if you will let me, I will keep your ring. Go, Kit; go, and prove to my father that he was mistaken; go and win me. And O, Kit, if ever you should weary, come to me—no, do not come! but send a word—and I shall know all, and you shall have your ring. (GAUNT _opens his Bible and begins to read_.) KIT. Don’t say that, don’t say such things to me; I sink or swim with you. (_To_ GAUNT.) Old man, you’ve struck me hard; give me a good word to go with. Name your time; I’ll stand the test. Give me a spark of hope, and I’ll fight through for it. Say just this—‘Prove I was mistaken,’ and by George, I’ll prove it. GAUNT (_looking up_). I make no such compacts. Go, and swear not at all. ARETHUSA. Go, Kit! I keep the ring. SCENE IV ARETHUSA, GAUNT ARETHUSA. Father, what have we done that you should be so cruel? GAUNT (_laying down Bible_, _and rising_). Do you call me cruel? You speak after the flesh. I have done you this day a service that you will live to bless me for upon your knees. ARETHUSA. He loves me, and I love him: you can never alter that; do what you will, father, that can never change. I love him, I believe in him, I will be true to him. GAUNT. Arethusa, you are the sole thing death has left me on this earth; and I must watch over your carnal happiness and your eternal weal. You do not know what this implies to me. Your mother—my Hester—tongue cannot tell, nor heart conceive the pangs she suffered. If it lies in me, your life shall not be lost on that same reef of an ungodly husband. (_Goes out_, _C._) SCENE V ARETHUSA ARETHUSA. I thought the time dragged long and weary when I knew that Kit was homeward bound, all the white sails a-blowing out towards England, and my Kit’s face turned this way? (_She begins to dust_.) Sure, if my mother were here, she would understand and help us; she would understand a young maid’s heart, though her own had never an ache; and she would love my Kit. (_Putting back the telescope_.) To think she died: husband and child—and so much love—she was taken from them all. Ah, there is no parting but the grave! And Kit and I both live, and both love each other; and here am I cast down? O, Arethusa, shame! And your love home from the deep seas, and loving you still; and the sun shining; and the world all full of hope? O, hope, you’re a good word! SCENE VI GAUNT ARETHUSA; _to her_, PEW PEW (_singing without_)— ‘Time for us to go! Time for us to go! And we’ll keep the brig three pints away, For it’s time for us to go.’