Collected Works (Vol. III)

WHY JESUS WEPT ANGELA. What shall I say ! ashamed. Oh leave me! Iam SIR Percy (very pale). Is this your writing? ANGELA. Oh shame! shame! shame! Tell me you have not read it, Sir Percy ! Str Percy. Some I did read— How know you my name? ANGELA. I read it in my heart. O but I am ashamed to speak to you! Or would be were not that name as a brand to blot out all feeling from me for evermore. SIR PERCY (aside). How she speaks! singing. (Aloud.) Indeed, I read too far, It is indeed an angel ANGELA. Pity me! Sir PERCY. Dear lady, the joy to know, and so per- fectly to express such love is enough. ANGELA. You mock me! That girl—do you in truth love her? She is most beautiful. SiR PERCY. O she is my love, my dove, my star, my— Ah !—I hurt you! (Aszde.) O beast ! What is this doubt ? ANGELA (very close to him). I hear another anthem in those eyes. By God, lad, you are wonderful ! Sir PERCY What would you say? VOL. III. 33 ANGELA. What would I not do? Listen, I am Angela, Lady Baird. I am rich. That wealth now for the first time yields me some pleasure. The moon rises late, after ten o’clock: you shall come with me. We are—neigh- bours, are we not? You shall come to my castle, I say; there I will prepare all for you and your young bride: my chaplain shall marry you at midnight ; my name and power shall shield you from all mischance. SIR PERCY. I am my own master. ANGELA. You think so? They have kept it from you, but you have a guardian: ask him if you may marry a mere country lass—-and you now not yet seventeen. SIR PERCY. And you—how old are you? ANGELA. That is a rude, rude boy! SIR PERCY. Oh, I am so sorry, I forgot. ANGELA. I will tell you, though. Iam all but twenty- two! Sir Percy. That is young yet. ANGELA, Ah, in your eyes I see sadness—I breathe; I hope. Think deeply in yourself, if you love this girl ! I am older than you, to be sure; but not so much. May be you would find my love a better thing than you think ! Cc