MARMADUKE Ay, come to me and weep. (He kisses her.) (To ELDRED.) Yes, Varlet, look, The devils at such sights do clap their hands. [ELDRED retires alarmed.] IDONEA Thy vest is torn, thy cheek is deadly pale; Hast thou pursued the monster? MARMADUKE I have found him.-- Oh! would that thou hadst perished in the flames! IDONEA Here art thou, then can I be desolate?-- MARMADUKE There was a time, when this protecting hand Availed against the mighty; never more Shall blessings wait upon a deed of mine. IDONEA Wild words for me to hear, for me, an orphan, Committed to thy guardianship by Heaven; And, if thou hast forgiven me, let me hope, In this deep sorrow, trust, that I am thine For closer care;--here, is no malady. [Taking his arm.] MARMADUKE There, _is_ a malady-- (Striking his heart and forehead.) And here, and here, A mortal malady.--I am accurst: All nature curses me, and in my heart _Thy_ curse is fixed; the truth must be laid bare. It must be told, and borne. I am the man, (Abused, betrayed, but how it matters not) Presumptuous above all that ever breathed, Who, casting as I thought a guilty Person Upon Heaven's righteous judgment, did become An instrument of Fiends. Through me, through me, Thy Father perished. IDONEA Perished--by what mischance? MARMADUKE Belovèd!--if I dared, so would I call thee-- Conflict must cease, and, in thy frozen heart, The extremes of suffering meet in absolute peace. [He gives her a letter.] IDONEA (reads) "Be not surprised if you hear that some signal judgment has befallen the man who calls himself your father; he is now with me, as his signature will shew: abstain from conjecture till you see me. "HERBERT. "MARMADUKE." The writing Oswald's; the signature my Father's: (Looks steadily at the paper.) And here is yours,--or do my eyes deceive me? You have then seen my Father? MARMADUKE He has leaned Upon this arm. IDONEA You led him towards the Convent? MARMADUKE That Convent was Stone-Arthur Castle. Thither We were his guides. I on that night resolved That he should wait thy coming till the day Of resurrection.