Page:The Siege of Valencia.pdf/111

O'erawed, shrank back before them?—Aye, the earth
Doth call them martyrs, but their agonies
Were of a moment, tortures whose brief aim
Was to destroy, within whose powers and scope
Lay nought but dust.—And earth doth call them martyrs!
Why, Heaven but claim'd their blood, their lives, and not
The things which grow as tendrils round their hearts;
No, not their children!

ELMINA.

Mean'st thou?—know'st thou aught?—

I cannot utter it—My sons! my sons!
Is it of them?—Oh! wouldst thou speak of them?

GONZALEZ.

A mother's heart divineth but too well!

ELMINA.

Speak, I adjure thee!—I can bear it all.—

Where are my children?

GONZALEZ.

In the Moorish camp

Whose lines have girt the city.

XIMENA.

But they live?

—All is not lost, my mother!

ELMINA.

Say, they live.