Ah, dearer than a brother, sir.
It is my husband!

Char. Husband!

Asef. Yes, my lord.
And dearer than--You have a wife?

Char. No, lady.

Asef. O, then you can not know! But you have loved?

Char. I love.

Asef. A lover--not a husband. Ah!
Add to thy love a thousand dearer loves
And take their sum a thousand times a thousand,
'T will be the smallest part divisible
Of my dear love for Rafael! You'll save him?

Char. Yes--I will save him. Do you trust me?

Asef. Trust you?
As I would Heaven! (Kisses his hands and goes out, right)

Char. Gone! Aseffa! Gone?
No, never gone! Her kisses here! O lips
That swept like drifting roses o'er my hands--
Both hands,--sweet equity! Still are they warm
As they were dipped in summer, though her touch
Was maiden light nor robbed him of a jot
Who should have all. Her husband--'twas a word
She used to slay me with!... Even in sorrow
She is more fair than any other fair
Met on a holiday. But when she smiled
She seemed like Fortune giving away a world.
So gracious was her splendor. Thou art revenged,
O little demon god so long my scorn!
Would I had given my heart by piecemeal out
Since I was ten than to have lost it so,
For going all at once it takes my life
And I must lose my life or follow it.
Ah, love should come like waves unto a shore,
Soft creeping up and back and up again.
Till taught to stand receptive we are firm
When the last, highest wave envelops us.
... May God restore me!... O her beauty burns
As she were limned by lightning on the night!
Her eyes are torches that Eternity
Lends life to read her dreams! Her cheek
Is June within a bud! Her veins have caught
The falling sun that in them strives to rise
To a new dawn!... And I must save him--save him!
This unknown man that holds the flaming sword
Above my paradise!... If this decree
Is signed she will be widowed ... (Stops in horror)