e the nation to his noble thought!

Ig. Yes--yes--they knew!

Trev. We'll break our swords, my boy.
We have no country.

Ig. Is my uncle yet
In Texas?

Trev. Ay, and we will go to him.
... Ungrateful ground that casts all goodness from it,
And sucks a gilded poison!

(Enter Rafael, Aseffa, Miguel, Lerdo, and others of the
camp)

Raf. (To Trevino) Sir, you will miss
Your breakfast, but I pledge my sword you'll have
To-morrow's supper!... Ignacio!

Ig. You here,
My Rafael! (They embrace) Aseffa too!

Asef. Dear friend!
(They greet affectionately)

Raf. And Maximilian is crowned?

Ig. Yes ... crowned.

Raf. You saw him?

Ig. In the cathedral, with the empress.

Asef. The empress?

Raf. What looks he like? This Austrian duke
That with a stolen crown mocks majesty!

Ig. He looks like majesty, and yet is graced
With Nature's gentlest stamp; his countenance
Takes beauty from his smile; his smile, one thinks,
Takes sweetness from a heart that has its own
Nobility from heaven.

Trev. An enemy
Well praised!

Asef. The empress? She bewitched you too?

(Ignacio is silent)

Come, sir! The truth of her!

Ig. The truth? Go ask
The angels. They've tongues for such sweet purpose.

Trev. What!
Ignacio turned squire o' the empire?

Ig. No.
But I can read a holy woman's face,
Though she by some strange counterfeit of truth
Would put an empress' foot upon our necks.

Asef. What is she like?

Ig. Like nothing but herself.
She is not gentle, for gentleness is but
Rude servant to that quality in her;
Gracious she's not, for grace herself doth serve
A poor handmaiden to her excellence;
Nor beautiful, for Beauty asks her name
To wear but that and know her own n