, lest I vanish.

_Cas._ Have I been in a dream then all this while?
And art thou but the shadow of Monimia:
Why dost thou fly me thus?

_Mon._ Oh! were it possible that we could drown
In dark oblivion but a few past hours,
We might be happy.

_Cas._ Is't then so hard, Monimia, to forgive
A fault, when humble love, like mine, implores thee?
For I must love thee, though it prove my ruin.
I'll kneel to thee, and weep a flood before thee.
Yet pr'ythee, tyrant, break not quite my heart;
But when my task of penitence is done,
Heal it again, and comfort me with love.

_Mon._ If I am dumb, Castalio, and want words
To pay thee back this mighty tenderness,
It is because I look on thee with horror,
And cannot see the man I have so wrong'd.

_Cas._ Thou hast not wrong'd me.

_Mon._ Ah! alas, thou talk'st
Just as thy poor heart thinks. Have not I wrong'd thee?

_Cas._ No.

_Mon._ Still thou wander'st in the dark, Castalio;
But wilt, ere long, stumble on horrid danger.

_Cas._ My better angel, then do thou inform me
What danger threatens me, and where it lies;
Why wert thou (pr'ythee, smile, and tell me why)
When I stood waiting underneath the window,
Deaf to my cries, and senseless of my pains?

_Mon._ Did I not beg thee to forbear inquiry?
Read'st thou not something in my face, that speaks
Wonderful change, and horror from within me?

_Cas._ If, lab'ring in the pangs of death,
Thou wouldst do any thing to give me ease,
Unfold this riddle ere my thoughts grow wild,
And let in fears of ugly form upon me.

_Mon._ My heart won't let me speak it; but remember,
Monimia, poor Monimia, tells you this:
We ne'er must meet again----

_Cas._ Ne'er meet again?

_Mon._ No, never.

_Cas._ Where's the power
On earth, that dares not look like thee, and say so?
Thou art my heart's inheritance: I serv'd
A long and faithful slavery for thee;
And who shall rob me of the dear-bought blessing?

_Mon._ Time will clear all; but now let this content you:
Heaven has decreed, and therefore I've resolv'd
(With torment I must tell it thee, Castalio)
Ever to be a stranger to thy love,
In some far distant country waste my life,
And from this day to see thy face no more.

_Cas._ Why turn'st thou from me? I'm alone already.
Methinks I stand upon a naked beach,
Sighing to winds, and to the seas complaining,
Whilst afar off the vessel sails away,
Where all the treasure of my soul's embark'd;
Wilt thou not turn?--Oh! could those e