As such I commune with a loftier race;
Angels and spirits are my ministers.
These do I part aside to grace his halls;
A Spanish gentleman and so, his peer.
MARIA.
Father, I am not well ; my head throhs fast,
Unwonted languor weighs upon my frame.
RIBERA.
Anger me not, Maria. T is my will,
Thou shalt obey. Hell, what these women be!
No obstacle would daunt them in the quest
Of that which, freely given, they reject.
Hold ! Haply just occasion bids thee seem
Unlike thyself. Speak fearlessly, dear child;
Confide to me thy knowledge, thy surmise.
MARIA (hurriedly).
No, father, you were right. I have no cause;
Punish me nay, forgive, and I obey.
[{c|RIBERA.}}
There spake my child; kiss me and be forgiven.
Sometimes I doubt thou playest upon my love
"Willfully, knowing me as soft as clay,
Whom the world knows of marble. In such moods,
I see my spirit mirror d first, and then
From thy large eyes thy sainted mother’s soul
Unclouded sbine.
