Part 6 (1/2)

_Ire._ Farewell, my brother!

I do obey; I bide occasion, waiting For what the years may bring.

_Theo._ Repent thy sin.

END OF ACT II.

ACT III.

SCENE I.--_Cherson, two years after. The palace of_ LAMACHUS.

ASANDER _and_ GYCIA.

_Gycia._ What day is this, Asander? Canst thou tell me?

_Asan._ Not I, my love. All days are now alike; The weeks fleet by, the days equivalent gems Strung on a golden thread.

_Gycia._ Thou careless darling!

I did not ask thee of the calendar.

Dost think a merchant's daughter knows not that?

Nay, nay; I only asked thee if thou knewest If aught upon this day had ever brought Some great change to thee.

_Asan._ Sweetest, dearest wife, Our marriage! Thinkest thou I should forget, Ay, though the chills of age had froze my brain, That day of all my life?

_Gycia._ Dost thou regret it?

I _think_ thou dost not, but 'tis sweet to hear The avowal from thy lips?

_Asan._ Nay, never a moment.

And thou?

_Gycia._ Nay, never for a pa.s.sing thought.

I did not know what life was till I knew thee.

Dost thou remember it, how I came forth, Looking incuriously to see the stranger, And lo! I spied my love, and could not murmur A word of courtesy?

_Asan._ Dost thou remember How I, a feverish and hot-brained youth, Full of rash pride and princely arrogance, Lifted my eyes and saw a G.o.ddess coming----

_Gycia._ Nay, a weak woman only.

_Asan._ And was tamed By the first glance?

_Gycia._ What! are we lovers still, After two years of marriage?

_Asan._ Is it two years, Or twenty? By my faith, I know not which, For happy lives glide on like seaward streams Which keep their peaceful and unruffled course So smoothly that the voyager hardly notes The progress of the tide. Ay, two years 'tis, And now it seems a day, now twenty years, But always, always happy.

[_Embraces_ GYCIA.

_Gycia._ Yet, my love, We have known trials too. My honoured sire Has gone and left us since.