I am too ill! Look at me! See the fever

That burns upon my cheek! I must go hence,
I am too weak to dance.

(Signal from the garden) Dol. (from the window.) Who's there? Voice (from below.) A friend. Dol. I will undo the door. Wait till I come. Prec. I must go hence. I pray you do not harm me!

Shame! shame! to treat a feeble woman thus!
Be you but kind, I will do all things for you.
I am ready now,-give me my castanets.
Where is Victorian? Oh, those hateful lamps!
They glare upon me like an evil eye.

I cannot stay. Hark! how they mock at me! They hiss at me like serpents! Save me! save me!

(She wakes.) Dol. It is midnight. Prec. We must be patient. Smooth this pillow for me.

How late it is, Dolores?

(She sleeps again. Noise from the garden, and voices.)

Voice. Muera!

ACT 111.

SCENE L-A cross-road through a wood. In the back-ground a distant village spre. VICTORIAN and IIYPOLITO, HYPOLITO plays and sings.

SONG.

Ah, Love!

Perjured, false, treacherous Love!
Enemy

Of all that mankind may not rue!
Most untrue

To him who keeps most faith with thee.
Woe is me!

The falcon has the eyes of the dove.
Ah, Love!

Perjured, false, treacherous Love!

Vict. Yes, Love is ever busy with his shuttle, Bright, gorgeous flowers and scenes Arcadian; Is ever weaving into life's dull warp Hanging our gloomy prison-house about With tapestries, that make its walls dilate In never-ending vistas of delight.

Hyp. Thinking to walk in those Areadlan pastures, Thou hast run thy noble head against the wall. SONG (continued).

What wise man wrote it? Hyp.

Indeed, I think it does

Lopez Maldonado.

Vict. In truth, a pretty song.
Hyp.

With much truth in it,
I hope thou wilt profit by it; and in earnest
Try to forget this lady of thy love.

Vict, I will forget her! All dear recollections
Pressed in my heart, like flowers within a book,
Shall be torn out, and scattered to the winds!
I will forget her! But perhaps hereafter,
When she shall learn how heartless is the
world,

A voice within her will repeat my name.
And she will say, "He was indeed my friend!"
Oh, would I were a soldier, not a scholar,
That the loud march, the deafening beat of
drums,

The shattering blast of the brass-throated trumpet,

The din of arms, the onslaught and the storm, And a swift death, might make me deaf for

ever

sink.

Another voice. O villains! villains! Lara.

Voice. Take that! Lara.

Oh, I am wounded! Dol. (shutting the window.)

Jesu Maria!

And yet at last Down sank Excalibar to rise no more. This is not well. In truth, it vexes me. Instead of whistling to the steeds of Time, To make them jog on merrily with life's bur

den,

Like a dead weight thou hangest on the wheels.
Thou art too young, too full of lusty health,
To talk of dying.

A glorious star. Be patient. Trust thy star!
(Sound of a village bell in the distance.)
Vict. Ave Maria! I hear the sacristan
Ringing the chimes from yonder village belfry!
A solemn sound, that echoes far and wide
Over the red roofs of the cottages,

And bids the labouring hind a-field, the shepherd

Guarding his flock, the lonely muleteer,

And all the crowd in village streets, stand still, And breathe a prayer unto the blessed Virgin! Hyp. Amen! amen! Not half a league from hence

SCENE II.-Public square in the village of Guadarama. The Ave Maria still tolling. A crowd of villagers, with their hats in their hands, as if in prayer. In front a group of Gipsies. The bell rings a merrier peal. A Gipsy dance. Enter PANCHO, followed by PEDRO CRESPO. Pancho. Make room, ye vagabonds and Gipsy thieves!

Make room for the Alcalde and for me!

Pedro C. Keep silence all! I have an edict here

From our most gracious lord the King of Spain,
Jerusalem, and the Canary Islands,
Which I shall publish in the market-place.
Open your ears and listen!

Enter the PADRE CURA at the door of his cottage.

Padre Cura,

Good day! and, pray you, hear this edict read.

Padre C. Good day, and God be with you!
Pray, what is it?

Pedro P. An act of banishment against the
Gipsies!
(Agitation and murmurs in the crowd.)
Pancho. Silence!

Pedro P. (reads.) "I hereby order and command,

That the Egyptian and Chaldean strangers.
Known by the name of Gipsies, shail henceforth
Be banished from the realm, as vagabonds
And beggars, and if, after seventy days,
Any be found within our kingdom's bounds,
They shall receive a hundred lashes each;
The second time shall have their ears cut off:
The third, be slaves for life to him who takes
them,

Or burnt as heretics. Signed I, the King."
Vile miscreants and creatures unbaptized!
You hear the law! Obey and disappear;
Pancho. And if in seventy days you art not

gone.

Dead or alive I make you all my slaves.

(The Gipsies go out in confusion, showing signs of fear and discontent. PANCHO follows.) Padre C. A. righteous law! A very righteous law!

Pray you sit down. Pedro P.

I thank you heartily. (They seat themselves on a bench at the PADRE CURA'S door. Sound of guitars heard at a distance, approaching during the dialogue which follows.)

A very righteous judgment, as you say.
Now tell me, Padre Cura,-you know all
things,-

How came these Gipsies into Spain?
They came with Hercules from Palestine,
Padre C.
Why, look you;
And hence are thieves and vagrants, Sir Alcalde,
As the Simoniacs from Simon Magus.
And, look you, as Fray Jayme Bleda says,
There are a hundred marks to prove a Moor
Is not a Christian, so 'tis with the Gipsies.
They never marry, never go to mass,
Never baptize their children, nor keep Lent,
Nor see the inside of a church,-nor-nor-
Pedro P. Good reasons-good, substantial rea-
sons all!

No matter for the other ninety-five.
They should be burnt, I see it plain enough,-
They should be burnt.

Enter VICTORIAN and HYPOLITO, playing.
Padre C. And pray, whom have we here?
Pedro P. More vagrants! By Saint Lazarus,
more vagrants!

Hup. Good evening, gentlemen! Is this Guadarama?

Padre C. Yes, Guadarama, and good evening to you.

And,

Hyp. We seek the Padre Cura of the village: judging from your dress and reverend mien. You must be he.

Padre C. I am. Pray, what's your pleasure? Hyp. We are poor students, travelling in vacation. You know this mark?

(Touching the wooden spoon in his hat-band.) Padre C. (joyfully.) Ay, know it, and have worn it.

Pedro P. (aside.) Soup-eaters! by the mass!
The worst of vagrants!

And there's no law against them. Sir, your ser-
vant.
[Exit
Padre C. Your servant, Pedro Crespo.
Hyp.
Padre Cura,
From the first moment I beheld your face,
I said within myself, "This is the man!"
There is a certain something in your looks.
A certain scholar-like and studious something,-

Chispa. Halloo! Don Fulano! Let us have horses, and quickly. Alas, poor Chispa! what a dog's life dost thou lead! I thought when I left my old master, Victorian, the student, to serve my new master Don Carlos, the gentleman, that I, too, should lead the life of a gentleman; should go to bed early, and get up late. For when the abbot plays cards, what can you expect of the friars? But. in running away from the thunder, I have run into the lightning. Here I am in hot chase after my master and his Gipsy girl. And a good beginning of the week it is, as he said who was hanged on Monday morning. Enter DON CARLOS.

Don C. Are not the horses ready yet? Chispa. I should think not, for the hostler seems to be asleep.

Ho! within there! Horses! horses! horses!

(He knocks at the gate with his whip, and enter MOSQUITO, putting on his jacket.) Mosq. Pray, have a little patience. I am not a musket.

Chispa. Health and pistareens! I'm glad to see you come on dancing, Padre! Pray, what's the news?

Mosq. You cannot have fresh horses; because there are none.

Chispa. Cachiporra!

Throw that bone to another dog. Do I like your aunt? Mosq. No; she has a beard.

Chispa. Go to! go to!

Mosq. Are you from Madrid?

Chispa. Yes; and going to Estramadura. Get us horses.

Mosq. What's the news at Court?

Chispa. Why, the latest new is, that I am going to set up a coach, and I have already bought the whip.

(Strikes him round the legs.) Mosq Oh! oh! you hurt me! Don C. Enough of this folly. Let us have horses. (Gives money to MOSQUITO.) It is almost dark; and we are in haste. But tell me, has a band of Gipsies passed this way of late? Mosq. Yes; and they are still in the neighbourhood.

Don C. And where?

Mosq. Across the fields yonder, in the woods near Guadarama. (Erit.

Don C. Now this is lucky. We will visit the Gipsy camp.

SCENE V.-The Gipsy camp in the forest. Night.
Gipsies working at a Forge. Others playing at
Cards by the fire-light.
Gipsies (at the forge sing.)

On the top of a mountain I stand.
With a crown of red-gold in my hand,
Wild Moors come trooping over the lea,
Oh. how from their fury shall I flee, flee, flee?
Oh, how from their fury shall I flee?

First Gipsy (playing). Down with your John-
Dorados, my pigeon. Down with your John-
Dorados, and let us make an end.
Gipsies (at the forge sing)

Loud sang the Spanish cavalier,
And thus his ditty ran;
God send the Gipsy lassie here,
And not the Gipsy man.

First Gipsy (playing). There you are in your morocco.

Second Gipsy. One more game. The Alcalde's
dove against the Padre Cura's new moon.
First Gipsy. Have at you, Chirelin.
Gipsies (at the forge sing.)

At midnight, when the moon began
To show her silver flame,
There came to him no Gipsy man,
The Gipsy lassie came.

Enter BELTRAN CRUZADO. Cruz. Come hither, Murcigalleros and Rasorders for the night. (Speaking to the right.) tilleros: leave work, leave play: listen to your You will get you to the village, mark you, by the

stone cross.

Gipsies. Ay!

Cruz. (to the left.) And you, by the pole with the hermit's head upon it. Gipsies. Ay!

Cruz. As soon as you see the planets are out, in with you, and be busy with the ten commandments, under the sly, and Saint Martin asleep. D'ye hear?

Gipsies. Ay!

Cruz. Keep your lanterns open, and, if you see a goblin or a papagayo, take to your trampers. "Vineyards and Dancing John' is the word. Am I comprehended?

Gipsies. Ay! ay!

Cruz Away, then!

[Exeunt severally. CRUZADO walks up the stage and disappears among the trees. Enter PRECIOSA.

Prec. How strangely gleams through the gi

gantic trees

Oh, touch me not! The Count of Lara's blood is on thy hands! The Count of Lara's curse is on thy soul! Do not come near me! Pray, begone from here! Thou art in danger! They have set a price Upon thy head!

Bart.

Ay, and I've wandered long Among the mountains; and for many days Have seen no human face, save the rough swineherd's ;

The wind and rain have been my sole companions.

I shouted to them from the rocks my name,
And the loud echo sent it back to me,

Till I grew mad. I could not stay from thee,
And I am here! Betray me, if thou wilt.
Prec. Betray thee? I betray thee?
Bart.

Preciosa!
I come for thee! for thee I thus brave death!
Fly with me o'er the borders of this realm:
Fly with me!
Prec.
Speak of that no more. I cannot.
I am thine no longer.
Bart.
When we were children; how we played to-
gether,

Oh, recall the time

How we grew up together; how we plighted Our hearts unto each other, even in childhood! Fulfil thy promise, for the hour has come.

I am hunted from the kingdom, like a wolf! Fulfil thy promise.

Prec.

"Twas my father's promise, Not mine. I never gave my heart to thee, Nor promised thee my hand!

Bart.

And heart more false!

Prec.

False tongue of woman!

Nay, listen unto me.

I will speak frankly. I have never loved thee;
I cannot love thee. This is not my fault,
It is my destiny. Thou art a man

Restless and violent. What wouldst thou with

Christ and the saints, be merciful unto me! Yet why should I fear death? What is it to die?

To leave all disappointment, care, and sorrow, To leave all falsehood, treachery, and unkindness,

All ignominy, suffering, and despair,

And be at rest for ever! Oh, dull heart,

Be of good cheer! When thou shalt cease to beat,

Then shalt thou cease to suffer and complain!
Enter VICTORIAN and HYPOLITO behind.
Vict. "Tis she! Behold, how beautiful she
stands

Under the tent-like trees!
Hyp.

A woodland nymph!
Vict. I pray thee, stand aside. Leave me.
Hyp.
Be wary;

Do not betray thyself too soon.

Vict. (disguising his voice.) Hist! Gipsy! Prec. (aside with emotion.) That voice! That voice from heaven! Oh, speak again!

Who is it calls? Vict.

Prec. (aside.)

A friend.

'Tis he! "Tis he!

I thank thee, Heaven, that thou hast heard my prayer,

And sent me this protector! Now be strong, Be strong, my heart! I must dissemble here.False friend or true?

I never loved a maid;

For she I loved was then a maid no more.
Prec. How know you that?
Vict.

Whispered the secret.

Prec.

A little bird in the air

There, take back your gold! Your hand is cold, like a deceiver's hand! There is no blessing in its charity! Make her your wife, for you have been abused; And you shall mend your fortunes, mending

hers.

Vict. (aside.) How like an angel's is the tongue

of woman,

When pleading in another's cause her own!————
This is a pretty ring upon your finger,
Pray, give it me.

Prec.

Shall that be taken!

Vict.

(Tries to take the ring.) No; never from my hand

Why, 'tis but a ring.

I'll give it back to you; or, if I keep it,
Will give you gold to buy you twenty such.
Prec. Why would you have this ring?
Vict.
A traveller's fancy,

A whim, and nothing more. I would fain keep it

As a memento of the Gipsy camp

In Guadarama, and the fortune-teller

Who sent me back to wed a widowed maid.
Pray, let me have the ring.

Prec.

No, never! never!