thus alone,--
And there is some big reason.

OCT. Ay. Oh, ay.
'Tis possible she grieves for Mario's death
No less than you,

BIA. [Simply] Ay, it is possible.
I mind she told me on my marriage-day
She was as happy as I.

OCT. 'Tis a curious thing,
When he was here she came to see you often,
But now that he is gone comes not at all.

BIA. [Simply.] Ay, it is curious. [Catching Octavia's expression.]

BIA. Nay, what evil thing
Is in your mind, gives you that evil smile?

OCT. Only a little thought.

BIA. A little thought,
I'll warrant you!--You'd have me to believe
She loved my husband?

OCT. Ay, I know she loved him.

BIA. It is a lie!

OCT. How dare you say I lie!

BIA. Oh, do not be so proud! Let us speak truth
At length, a little! We are so garnished up
With courtesies, so over-sauced and seasoned,
We cannot taste each other! Why do you tell me
A thing like that?---You have no love for me!

OCT. [Weeping,] I love you too much--you are the only thing
I do love!

BIA. Nay, it is not love of me
For my own self. Else would you do the thing
Would make me happiest. You know how I have loved her,
Since we were children. You could not be to me
What she was; one forgets too many things.
You could not know my thought. I loved you dearly;
But you were hard to love; one never knew
Whether you would be hot or cold to touch.
Whilst she and I,--oh, we were two young trees
So nearly of a height we had the same world
Ever within our vision!--Yet all these years,
Even from the time we first went to Fiori,
You have been bearing me your little tales,--
"She had done this and that, she was thus and so--",
Seeking to stir and poison the clear water
Of my deep love for her! And now this thing.
Which is not true. But if it had been true,
It would not be so out of all reason cruel
As that you should have told me of it now.
Nay, do not weep. All day 'tis one of us
Making the other weep. We are two strange,
Unhappy women. Come, let us be at peace.

[Pause. Bianca rises suddenly.]

Mother, farewell a little while. I go now
To her, seeing that she does not come to me.
But not to question her, not to demand,
"How comes it this? What can you say to that?"
Only to sit beside her, as in the old days,
And let her lay her quiet on my heart.

Scene 3

[The garden at Fiori, same as in Act I,