Pygmalion; let me stay.

PYG. It may not be.
Come, Galatea, we shall meet again.

GAL. Do with me as thou wilt, Pygmalion!
But we shall meet again?--and very soon?

PYG. Yes, very soon.

GAL. And when thy wife returns,
She'll let me stay with thee?

PYG. I do not know.
[_Aside_]. Why should I hide the truth from her [_aloud_] alas!
I may not see thee then.

GAL. Pygmalion!
What fearful words are these?

PYG. The bitter truth.
I may not love thee; I must send thee hence.

GAL. Recall those words, Pygmalion, my love!
Was it for this that heaven gave me life?
Pygmalion, have mercy on me; see,
I am thy work, thou hast created me;
The gods have sent me to thee. I am thine!
Thine! only, and unalterably thine!
This is the thought with which my soul is charged.
Thou tellest me of one who claims thy love,
That thou hast love for her alone. Alas!
I do not know these things; I only know
That heaven has sent me here to be with thee.
Thou tellest me of duty to thy wife,
Of vows that thou wilt love but her. Alas!
I do not know these things; I only know
That heaven, who sent me here, has given me
One all absorbing duty to discharge--
To love thee, and to make thee love again.

[PYGMALION _takes her in his arms, and embraces her passionately._]

ACT III, SCENE I

CHARACTERS: Pygmalion; Myrine, his sister; Cynisca, his wife;
Galatea.

SCENE: Pygmalion's studio.

_Enter_ MYRINE

MYR. Pygmalion's heard that he must lose his wife,
And swears, by all the gods that reign above,
He will not live if she deserts him now!
What--what is to be done?

_Enter_ GALATEA

GAL. Myrine here!
Where is Pygmalion?

MYR. Oh, wretched girl!
Art thou not satisfied with all the ill
Thy heedlessness has worked, that thou art come
To gaze upon thy victim's misery?
Well, thou hast come in time!

GAL. What dost thou mean?

MYR. Why, this is what I mean; he will not live,
Now that Cynisca has deserted him.
O, girl, his blood will be upon thy head!

GAL. Pygmalion will not live! Pygmalion die!
And I, alas, the miserable cause!
Oh, what is to be done?

MYR. I do not know.
And yet there is