(_Exit one of the attendants. Behind the scene the children’s voices are heard._) Hark, ah, hark, they cry!-- Lady, thy little ones! Oh, Heaven must die And perish away from earth, if thou stay dumb Looking on these! (_Enter the two children; they run to_ ALCESTIS _with outstretched arms_.) CHILDREN.-- Mother! NURSE.-- Oh, come, come, come! Yea, children! ’Tis your own, returned again! CHILDREN.-- Mother! Oh, Mother! (ALCESTIS _stands as one hearing a far-off cry, whose sound she remembers_.) NURSE.-- Alas! Is that cry vain? It shall not be! Leap, child, leap to her breast! Take hold on her with hands, give her no rest, Cry her to pity! CHILDREN.-- Mother! NURSE.-- Should this not be A call to rouse the dead? She wakes! Oh, see! ALCESTIS.-- These were my children. NURSE.-- By the Gods, ’tis true: They _are_ thy children, lady! What wouldst thou do? (ALCESTIS _bends over her daughter with a strange look; she takes the child’s hair in her hands on each side lifting it, and begins plaiting it together_.) Oh, look, look, look! ALCESTIS.-- And thou, also, must die Some day, fair child, and in the grave must lie. Hark, what I tell thee: do not rise again! Quiet is that dwelling, and therein is no pain. NURSE.-- What hast thou said? Is not this world more bright Than that dim realm where man can see no light, Nor hear no sound, nor feel no touch of hands? ALCESTIS.-- Surely the light goes forth to many lands, And seeth all things. Yet our lord, the Sun, In heaven stands lonely, and is known of none. NURSE.-- Yet was not great Apollo both guard and guide, When to this palace thou camest as a bride? And round thy chariot’s yoke such spells he cast That lion and bear thereto stood harnessed fast. ALCESTIS.-- I mind me of it. It was as thou hast said. Therefore I came; and therefore hence went dead. (_The_ NURSE, _turning away with a gesture of despondency, signs to an_ ATTENDANT _to remove the children_.) NURSE.-- Bear them away! For now I hear the voice Of singers and of minstrels that rejoice Because the bridegroom comes. Therefore be swift, Bring and put on the wedding robe, and lift Again to that fair head the bridal crown! And thou, bright Hera, favourably look down And bless for us this hour! (_She kneels at the feet of_ ALCESTIS.) Oh, Mistress mine, Surely thou knowest my heart was ever thine, To do thee service for better and not for worse! ALCESTIS.-- Yea, yea I know it! And yet thou wast my nurse! (_Stifling a sharp cry, the_ NURSE _rises and moves away_. ALCESTIS, _robed and crowned, stands alone. The sound of music and singing draws nearer. A look of frozen horror comes over her._)