housand horse against us (_with dry humour_) to
count upon the mercy of the Lord is presumption.

JUDITH (_moves aside and returns. Sweetly_). Why then did you speak thus
to the people? And to what end did you deceive them? I beseech you yet
again to show me your heart, for it is right that I should know.

OZIAS. I saw the vastness of the future as in a vision. If the God of
Israel perchance is merciful, and the city is saved at the eleventh
hour, then it will be said in Jerusalem that there is none like Ozias of
Bethulia for steadfastness, for he alone by his ardour revived the
fainting populace and held firm the city; and great will be my
recompense.... But that is a dream. Always I have faced the substance of
things, and the substance is that Nebuchadnezzar has decreed to rule
over the whole earth, and from the east to the west there is no living
man that shall not bow down before Nebuchadnezzar. Bethulia will fall.
I, the governor, shall be taken captive and shown to Nebuchadnezzar, and
in that day Holofernes shall say to Nebuchadnezzar: Lo! Here is Ozias
the Israelite who resisted thy mighty armies for thirty-four days and
yet five days more. Use him if it seem good to thee. And I shall be
lifted up to be a satrap of Nebuchadnezzar, and I shall partake of the
bright glory of Nebuchadnezzar. And--(_hesitates_.)

JUDITH (_subtly and sweetly_). And?

OZIAS (_in an outburst_). What am I without you, O Judith? Before
Manasses loved you, did I not love you? For three years have I not
watched over you in all honour and respect, and troubled you not with my
importunity until this day, which is the day of days? What am I without
you, and what shall be my dominion and my satrap's throne if you do not
sit in majesty by my side, O Rose of Sharon and matchless among women?

Judith (_as before_). My lord, you are like a rushing river.

OZIAS. You have seen my heart.

JUDITH. I have seen it.

OZIAS. And what say you?

_There is the sudden sound of a disturbance. Enter, from back, soldiers,
holding_ Achior, _and a group of excited citizens_. Haggith _appears at
the house-door._

OZIAS (_fiercely_). What! Are my commands no more than the wind in the
corn, and is there to be naught but tumult within the walls of this
city?

VOICES IN THE GROUP. An Assyrian! An Assyrian!

FIRST SOLDIER. Lord Ozias! We saw this man lying bound at the foot of
the hill, and we descended and loosed him and brought him privily into
Bethulia