The Mother’s Tragedy

THE MOTHER'S TRAGEDY 21 ULRIC. Stop! stop! I did not hear you. O my God! What agony is this? What have I done To earn this infamy? Or rather, Thou, What have I not done? Have Thou pity yet; Sustain me in this vile extremity! [He prays silently. CORA, watching him. How wonderful! He will abide the shock. Death and mute horror fight within his face Against a will made masterful to Fate. ULRIC razses his eyes and lifts hts arm in act to strike. Then I detest you! Mother! Treacherous! Vile as the worm that battens on the dead! CORA. Ulric! He’s mad! Sweet heaven! what is this ? [CORA zs now hysterical, ULRIC does not notice. She shrieks at each new insult. ULRIC. Say rather, what are you? I loved you once Childlike; then came the power of reasoning, And | beheld you, the unselfish one, Befriending me, the angel of of my life. See what it rested on, my happiness ! Your sacrifice is utter selfishness ;