h 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
yield to him her virgin honour and transgress even as Juliet had done
with Claudio, he would give her her brother's life; "For," said he, "I
love you, Isabel."--"My brother," said Isabel, "did so love Juliet, and
yet you tell me he shall die for it."--"But," said Angelo, "Claudio
shall not die, if you will consent to visit me by stealth at night, even
as Juliet left her father's house at night to com