and am so young?
And I should like to live! Not live, indeed--
But die, unwarned, an unexpected death!
'Tis but the moment of our death that shocks!

(_At_ ESTHER's _neck._)

Unhappy am I, sister, hopeless, lost!

(_After a pause, with a voice broken by sobs._)

And is the necklace set with amethysts,
Thou broughtst?

ESTHER. It is. And pearls it has as bright
And many, too, as are thy tears.

RACHEL. I would
Not look at it at all--at least not now.
But only if our prison lasts too long,
I'll try divert eternal wretchedness,
And shall adorn myself unto my death.
But see, who nears? Ha, ha, ha, ha, it is,
In sooth, our father, armed cap-a-pie!

[ISAAC, _a helmet on his head, under his long coat a cuirass, enters
from the left._]

ISAAC. 'Tis I, the father of a wayward brood,
Who ere my time are shortening my days.
In harness, yes! When murder stalks abroad,
Will one's bare body save one from the steel?
A blow by chance, and then the skull is split!
This harness hides, what's more, my notes of 'change,
And in my pockets carry I my gold;
I'll bury that and curse and soul will save
From poverty and death. And if ye mock,
I'll curse you with a patriarchal curse--
With Isaac's curse! O ye, with voices like
The voice of Jacob, but with Esau's hands,
Invert the law of primogeniture!
Myself, my care! What care I more for you!
Hark!

RACHEL. What noise?

ESTHER. The drawbridge has been raised--
And now our refuge is a prison too.--

RACHEL. A token that the King has left these walls.
So hastes he forth.--Will he return again?
I fear me no--I fear the very worst!

(_Sinking on_ ESTHER's _breast_.)

And yet I loved him truly, loved him well!

ACT IV

_A large room with a throne in the foreground to the right. Next to the
throne, and running in a straight row to the left, several chairs upon
which eight or ten Castilian grandees are sitting. Close to the throne_,
MANRIQUE DE LARA, _who has arisen._

MANRIQUE. In sadness we are now assembled