mood,
He yields to gentler impulse, begs he not
Forgiveness of his sceptre and gray hairs?

QUEEN.
Who told you that my lot, at Philip's side
Was one for men to pity?

CARLOS.
My own heart!
Which feels, with burning pangs, how at my side
It had been to be envied.

QUEEN.
Thou vain man!
What if my heart should tell me the reverse?
How, sir, if Philip's watchful tenderness,
The looks that silently proclaim his love,
Touched me more deeply than his haughty son's
Presumptuous eloquence? What, if an old man's
Matured esteem----

CARLOS.
That makes a difference! Then,
Why then, forgiveness!--I'd no thought of this;
I had no thought that you could love the king.

QUEEN.
To honor him's my pleasure and my wish.

CARLOS.
Then you have never loved?

QUEEN.
Singular question!

CARLOS.
Then you have never loved?

QUEEN.
I love no longer!

CARLOS.
Because your heart forbids it, or your oath?

QUEEN.
Leave me; nor never touch this theme again.

CARLOS.
Because your oath forbids it, or your heart?

QUEEN.
Because my duty--but, alas, alas!
To what avails this scrutiny of fate,
Which we must both obey?

CARLOS.
Must--must obey?

QUEEN.
What means this solemn tone?

CARLOS.
Thus much it means
That Carlos is not one to yield to must
Where he hath power to will! It means, besides,
'That Carlos is not minded to live on,
The most unhappy man in all his realm,
When it would only cost the overthrow
Of Spanish laws to be the happiest.

QUEEN.
Do I interpret rightly? Still you hope?
Dare you hope on, when all is lost forever?

CARLOS.
I look on naught as lost--except the dead.

QUEEN.
For me--your mother, do you dare to hope?

[She fixes a penetrating look on him, then continues
with dignity and earnestness.

And yet why not? A new elected monarch
Can do far more--make bonfires of the laws
His father left--o'erthrow his monuments--
Nay, more than this--for what shall hinder him?--
Drag from his tomb, in the Escurial,
The sacred corpse of his departed sire,
Make it a public spectacle, and scatter
Forth to the winds his desecrated dust.
And then, at last, to fill the measure up----

CARLOS.
Merciful heavens, finish not the picture!

QUEEN.
End all by wedding with his mother.

CARLOS.
Oh!
Accursed son!
[He remains for some time paralyzed and speechless.
Yes