This page needs to be proofread.
THE 8PAGNOLETTO.
301
I hold them with. On just cause to be angered,
Is merely human. Yet they sound my temper ;
They try to lead me like some half-tamed beast,
That must be coaxed. Well, I may laugh thereat.
But I am not myself to-day ; strange pains
Shoot through my head and limbs and vex my spirit.
Oh, I have wronged my child ! Return, Maria !
[Exit, calling.
{{END OF ACT III.
ACT IV.
SCENE I. }}
Night. RIBERA’S bedroom. RIBERA discovered in his dressing-gown, seated reading beside a table, with a light upon it. Enter from an open door at the back of the stage, MARIA. She stands irresolute for a moment on the thresh old behind her father, watching him, passes her hand rapidly over her brow and eyes, and then knocks.
MARIA.
May I come in, dear father ?
RIBERA (putting down his book and looking at her affectionately).
Child, you ask ?
MARIA (advancing).
You study late. I came to bid good-night.
