lty
passion in his heart, and he began to form thoughts of dishonourable
love, such as Claudio's crime had been; and the conflict in his mind
made him to turn away from Isabel: but she called him back, saying,
"Gentle my lord, turn back; hark, how I will bribe you. Good my lord,
turn back!" "How, bribe me!" said Angelo, astonished that she should
think of offering him a bribe. "Aye," said Isabel, "with such gifts
that Heaven itself shall share with you; not with golden treasures, or
those glittering stones, whose price is either rich or poor as fancy
values them, but with true prayers that shall be up to Heaven before
sunrise--prayers from preserved souls, from fasting maids whose minds
are dedicated to nothing temporal." "Well, come to me to-morrow," said
Angelo. And for this short respite of her brother's life, and for this
permission that she might be heard again, she left him with the joyful
hope that she should at last prevail over his stern nature: and as she
went away, she said, "Heaven keep your honour safe! Heaven save your
honour!" Which when Angelo heard, he said within his heart, "Amen, I
would be saved from thee and from thy virtues:" and then, affrighted
at his own evil thoughts, he said, "What is this! What is this? Do I
love her, that I desire to hear her speak again, and feast upon her
eyes? What is it I dream on? The cunning enemy of mankind, to catch a
saint, with saints does bait the hook. Never could an immodest woman
once stir my temper, but this virtuous woman subdues me quite. Even
till now, when men were fond, I smiled, and wondered at them."

In the guilty conflict in his mind Angelo suffered more that night,
than the prisoner he had so severely sentenced; for in the prison
Claudio was visited by the good duke, who in his friar's habit
taught the young man the way to Heaven, preaching to him the words
of penitence and peace. But Angelo felt all the pangs of irresolute
guilt: now wishing to seduce Isabel from the paths of innocence and
honour, and now suffering remorse and horror for a crime as yet but
intentional. But in the end his evil thoughts prevailed; and he who
had so lately started at the offer of a bribe resolved to tempt this
maiden with so high a bribe, as she might not be able to resist, even
with the precious gift of her dear brother's life.

When Isabel came in the morning, Angelo desired she might be admitted
alone to his presence; and being there, he said to her, if she would