e here to me, Rose-Red,
Whilst I pinch you smartly! You, Arianna, push me
Her Highness over here, that I may pinch her!
[To Loretta.] Nay, is it finished? Aye, 'tis very well.
Though not so well, Loretta, as many a day
When I was doing nothing!--Nay, my girl,
'Tis well enough. He will take me as I am
Or leave me as I was.--You may come back
In half an hour, if you are grieved about it,
And do it again. But go now,--all of you.
I wish to be alone. [To Beatrice.] Not you.

[Exeunt all but Bea. and Bia.]

Oh, Rose-Red,
I trust 'twill not be long before I see you
As happy as you see me now!

BEA. Indeed,
I could not well be happier than I am.
You do not know, maybe, how much I love you.

BIA. Ah, but I do,--I have a measure for it!

BEA. Ay, for today you have. But not for long.
They say a bride forgets her friends,--she cleaves so
To her new lord. It cannot but be true.
You will be gone from me. There will be much
To drive me from your mind.

BIA. Shall I forget, then, When I am old, I ever was a child?
I tell you I shall never think of you
Throughout my life, without such tenderness
As breaks the heart,--and I shall think of you
Whenever I am most happy, whenever I am
Most sad, whenever I see a beautiful thing.
You are a burning lamp to me, a flame
The wind cannot blow out, and I shall hold you
High in my hand against whatever darkness.

BEA. You are to me a silver bell in a tower.
And when it rings I know I am near home.

Scene 3

[A room in the palace. Mario alone. Enter Beatrice.]

BEA. Mario! I have a message for you!--Nay,
You need not hang your head and shun me, Mario,
Because you loved me once a little and now
Love somebody else much more. The going of love
Is no less honest than the coming of it.
It is a human thing.

MAR. Oh, Beatrice!
What can I say to you?

BEA. Nay, but indeed.
Say nothing. All is said. I need no words
To tell me you have been troubled in your heart,
Thinking of me.

MAR. What can I say to you!

BEA. I tell you, my dear friend, you must forget
This thing that makes you sad. I have forgotten,
In seeing her so happy, that ever I wished
For happiness myself. Indeed, indeed,
I am much happier in her happiness
Than if it were my own; 'tis doubly dear,
I feel it in myself, yet all the time
I know it to be hers, and am twice glad.

MAR. I cou