long years thou hast watched above me. How
could I love on when thou hadst stained with blood that hand that
blessed me when a child, how honor when thou hadst repaid noble deeds
with death? Forgive me that I plead for those thou hast doomed! I alone
am guilty,--let thine anger fall on me; but, Father, I implore thee,
leave this evil deed undone. [_Kneels._]

Ber. Thou canst plead well for thy father's and thy country's foe. What
strange fancy hath possessed thee, Zara? Thou hast never wept, tho' many
a Christian knight hath pined and died within these walls; and even
now, methinks, thou speakest more of gratitude than mercy, and seem
strangely earnest for the English lord who did thee some small service
long ago. Speak, Zara! wouldst thou save them _all_? Were I to grant
thee all their lives save his, wouldst thou be content to let _him_ die?

Zara. Nay, Father; but for his tender care thou wouldst have no daughter
now to stand before thee, pleading for the life he bravely risked in
saving mine. Oh, would I had died amid the forest leaves ere I had
brought such woe to him, and lived to lose my father's love! [_Weeps._]

Ber. Listen, Zara! Little as I know of woman's heart, I have learned to
read thine own; and if I err not, thou hast dared to love this stranger.
Ha! is it so? Girl, I command thee to forget that love, and leave him to
his fate!

Zara. Never! I will not forget the love that like a bright star hath
come to cheer my lonely heart. I will _not_ forget the noble friend
who, 'mid his fiercest foes, could brave all dangers to restore an
unknown maiden to her home. And when I offered liberty (for I have
disobeyed and dared to seek his cell), he would not break the word he
had plighted, Father, unto thee. He bade me tempt him not, for death
were better than dishonor. Ah, canst thou doom him to a felon's death?
Then do it; and the hour that sees that true heart cease to beat, that
hour thou hast lost the child who would have loved and clung to thee
through life.

Ber. Child, thou hast moved me strangely. I would grant thy prayer, but
thou shalt never wed one of that accursed race. I bear no hate to the
young lord, save that he is thy country's foe; and if he gains his
freedom, he will win thee too. By Allah! it shall never be. Yet, listen,
Zara! If I grant his life wilt thou ask no more?

Zara. 'T is all I ask; grant me but this, and I will give thee all the
gratitude and love this poor heart can bestow.