wandered on the earth.

III:1:12 PRIOR.
Thou didst return?

III:1:13 ALAR.
And found the being that I loved, and found
Her faithful still.

III:1:14 PRIOR.
And thou, my son, wert happy?

III:1:15 ALAR.
Alas! I was no longer free. Strange ties
Had bound a hopeless exile. But she I had loved,
And never ceased to love, for in the form,
Not in the spirit was her faith more pure,
She looked upon me with a glance that told
Her death but in my love. I struggled, nay,
'Twas not a struggle, 'twas an agony.
Her aged sire, her dark impending doom,
And the overwhelming passion of my soul:
My wife died suddenly.

III:1:16 PRIOR.
And by a life
That should have shielded hers?

III:1:17 ALAR.
Is there hope of mercy?
Can prayers, can penances, can they avail?
What consecration of my wealth, for I'm rich,
Can aid me? Can it aid me? Can endowments?
Nay, set no bounds to thy unlimited schemes
Of saving charity. Can shrines, can chauntries,
Monastic piles, can they avail? What if
I raise a temple not less proud than this,
Enriched with all my wealth, with all, with all?
Will endless masses, will eternal prayers,
Redeem me from perdition?

III:1:18 PRIOR.
What, would gold
Redeem the sin it prompted?

III:1:19 ALAR.
No, by Heaven!
No, Fate had dowered me with wealth might feed
All but a royal hunger.

III:1:20 PRIOR.
And alone
Thy fatal passion urged thee

III:1:21 ALAR.
Hah!

III:1:22 PRIOR.
Probe deep
Thy wounded soul.

III:1:23 ALAR.
'Tis torture: fathomless
I feel the fell incision.

III:1:24 PRIOR.
There is a lure
Thou dost not own, and yet its awful shade