beware, Caesario!
My foot is on thy neck, and should I find
Thy head a snake's I'll crush it! quick! the scarf!
Am I refused?

_Caesa._ Ottilia, be persuaded.
More nobly use thy power.

_Otti._ [_Suffocated with rage._] The scarf! the scarf!

_Caesa._ I value not the toy, nor her who gave it.
Then wherefore triumph o'er a fallen foe?
It must not be----Hark! footsteps!--Sweet, farewell!
Ere night we meet again.----[_Going._]

_Otti._ Yes, go, perfidious!
But know, ere night, thy head shall grace the scaffold!

_Caesa._ [_Returning._] Saidst thou----

_Otti._ Last night my husband's dreams revealed
A secret.

_Caesa._ [_Starting._] How? thy husband? Marquis Guzman?

_Otti._ He spoke of plots--of soldiers brib'd----

[_looking round mysteriously, and pointing to the lower part of the
palace._]

Of vaults
Beneath the royal chamber--Wherefore tell I
To thee a tale thou know'st thyself full well?
I'll tell it to the king----[_Going._]

_Caesa._ Ottilia, stay!

_Otti._ The scarf.

_Caesa._ [_Giving it._] 'Tis thine!----My life is in thy hands.
Be secret, and I live thy slave forever. [_Exit._

_Otti._ [_Alone._] 'Tis plain! 'tis plain! traitor, thou lov'st her still!
Am I forsaken then? Oh shame, shame, shame!
Forsaken too by one, for whom last night
I dared a deed which----Ha! the palace opens,
And lo! Estella with the princess comes.
I'll hence, but soon returning make my rival
Feel what I suffer now. Thus fell Megaera;
Tears from her heart one of those snakes which gnaw it,
To throw upon some wretch; and when it stings him,
Wild laughs the fiend to see his pangs, well knowing
How keen those pangs are, since she feels the same. [_Exit._

Amelrosa, Estella, Inis, _and ladies, appear on the terrace of the
palace._

_Amel._ Forth, forth my friends! the morn will blush to hear
Our tardy greeting [_descending._] Gently, winds, I pray ye,
Breathe through this grove; and thou, all-radiant sun,
Woo not these bowers beloved with kiss too fierce.
Oh! look, my ladies, how yon beauteous rose,
O'er charged with dew, bends its fair head to earth,
Emblem of sorrowing virtue! [_to Inis_] would'st thou break it?
See'st not its silken leaves are stain'd with tears?
Ever, my Inis, where thou find'st these traces,
Show thou most kindness, most respect. I'll raise it,
And bind it gently to its neighbour rose;
So shall it live, and still its blushing bosom
Yield the wild bee, its little love, repose.