>Act
II
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Dialogue following No. 14
DARINE, who has been watching ETHAIS and SELENE, enters.
| Darine. | She leads him willingly
into her bower! Oh, I could curse the eyes that meet his eyes, The hand that touches his hands, and the lips That press his lips! And why? I cannot tell! Some unknown fury rages in my heart — A mean and miserable hate of all Who interpose between my love and me! What devil doth possess me? |
PHYLLON has entered unobserved during the last few lines.
| Phyllon. (coming forward). Jealousy! | ||
| Darine. (recklessly). | ||
| Maybe! What matters how the fiend is called! | ||
| Phyllon. | But wherefore art thou jealous? Tell
me now, Have I done aught to cause this jealousy? |
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| Darine. | Thou? Dost thou love me? | |
| Phyllon. (airily). | Love thee? Tenderly | |
| I love all pretty girls on principle. | ||
| Darine. (impetuously). | ||
| But is thy love an all-possessing love? Mad, reckless, unrestrained, infuriate? Holding thy heart within its steely grasp, And pressing passion from its very core? |
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| Phyllon. (surprised). | ||
| That sort of thing! | ||
| Darine. (pityingly). | Alas, poor stricken knight! | |
| Phyllon, my love is such a love as
thine; But it is not for thee! Oh, steel thyself To hear disastrous tidings, gentle knight! |
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| (Melodramatically.) | I love thee not! | |
| Phyllon. (coolly). | Indeed? | ||||
| Darine. | Is it not strange? | ||||
| Phyllon. (very quietly). | |||||
| Most unaccountable! | |||||
| Darine. (disappointed). | But tell me now, | ||
| Art thou not sorely grieved? | |||
| Phyllon. (very calmly) | |||
| Unspeakably. | |||
| Darine. | But dost thou understand? I love thee
not; I, whom thou lovest, Phyllon, love thee not! Nay, more, I love another — Ethais! Thou hast a rival, and a favoured one — Dost thou not hear me? |
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| Phyllon. (calmly). | Yes, I am deeply pained. | ||
| Darine. (delighted). | |||
| Thou art? | |||
| Phyllon. | Of course — what wouldst thou have me do? | ||
| Darine. | Do? Hurl thyself headlong to yonder
earth, And end at once a life of agony! |
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| Phyllon. | Why should I? | ||
| Darine. | Why? Because I love thee not! | ||
| Why, if I loved and found
my love despised, The universe should ring with my laments; And were I mortal, Phyllon, as thou art, I would destroy myself |
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Page modified 13 August 2011