Page:Passions 2.pdf/342

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330
ETHWALD:



ACT V.


SCENE I. An open space on the walls of the castle. Enter Alwy and Hexulf talking as they enter with violent gesture.


Hex. (with angry vehemence.)
Escap'd say'st thou, with all the rebel chiefs?
Hereulf escap'd? th' arch fiend himself hath done it,
If what thou say'st be true.—It is impossible
Say'st thou they are escap'd?

Alwy. In very truth they are.

Hex. Then damned treachery has aided them!

Alwy. Nay rather say, thy artful cruelty
Arm'd them with that which to the weakly frame
Lends a nerv'd giant's strength; despair. From out
The thick and massy wall, now somewhat loose
And jagged grown with time, cemented heaps,
Which scarce two teams of oxen could have mov’d,
They've torn, and found a passage to the moat.
What did it signify in what dire form
Death frown'd upon them, so as they had died?

Hex. Who can foresee events? As well as thou