ld be on my knees to you a lifetime,
Nor pay you half the homage is your due.

BEA. Pay me no homage, Mario,--but if it be
I have your friendship, I shall treasure it.

MAR. That you will have always.

BEA. Then you will promise me
Never to let her know. I never told her
How it was with us, or that I cherished you
More than another. It was on my tongue to tell her
The moment she returned, but she had seen you
Already on the bridge as she went by,
And had leaned out to look at you, it seems,
And you were looking at her,--and the first words
She said, after she kissed me, were, "Oh, sister,
I have looked at last by daylight on the man
I see in my dreams!"

MAR. [Tenderly.] Did she say that?

BEA. [Drily.] Ay, that
Was what she said.--By which I knew, you see,
My dream was over,--it could not but be you.
So that I said no word, but my quick blood
Went suddenly quiet in my veins, and I felt
Years older than Bianca. I drew her head
Down to my shoulder, that she might not see my face,
And she spoke on, and on. You must not tell her,
Even when you both are old, and there is nothing
To do but to remember. She would be withered
With pity for me. She holds me very dear.

MAR. I promise it, Rose-Red. And oh, believe me,
I said no word to you last year that is not
As true today! I hold you still the noblest
Of women, and the bravest. I have not changed.
Only last year I did not know I could love
As I love now. Her gentleness has crept so
Into my heart, it never will be out.
That she should turn to me and cling to me
And let me shelter her, is the great wonder
Of the world. You stand alone. You need no shelter,
Rose-Red.

BEA. It may be so.

MAR. Will you forgive me?

BEA. I had not thought of that. If it will please you,
Ay, surely.--And now, the reason for my coming:
I have a message for you, of such vast import
She could not trust it to a liv'ried page,
Or even a courier. She bids me tell you
She loves you still, although you have been parted
Since four o'clock.

MAR. [Happily.] Did she say that?

BEA. Ay, Mario.
I must return to her. It is not long now
Till she will leave me.

MAR. She will never leave you,
She tells me, in her heart.

BEA. [Happily.] Did she say that?

MAR. Ay, that she did, and I was jealous of you
One moment, till I called myself a fool.

BEA. Nay, Mario, she doe