No More Learning

IDONEA (leaning on MARMADUKE)
Left to the mercy of that savage Man!
How could he call upon his Child! --O Friend!
[Turns to MARMADUKE. ]
My faithful true and only Comforter.


MARMADUKE Ay, come to me and weep. (He kisses her. )
(To ELDRED. ) Yes, Varlet, look,
The devils at such sights do clap their hands.
[ELDRED retires alarmed. ]


IDONEA Thy vest is torn, thy cheek is deadly pale;
Hast thou pursued the monster?


MARMADUKE I have found him. --
Oh! would that thou hadst perished in the flames!


IDONEA Here art thou, then can I be desolate?
--


MARMADUKE There was a time, when this protecting hand
Availed against the mighty; never more
Shall blessings wait upon a deed of mine.


IDONEA Wild words for me to hear, for me, an orphan,
Committed to thy guardianship by Heaven;
And, if thou hast forgiven me, let me hope,
In this deep sorrow, trust, that I am thine
For closer care;--here, is no malady.
[Taking his arm. ]


MARMADUKE There, _is_ a malady--
(Striking his heart and forehead. ) And here, and here,
A mortal malady. --I am accurst:
All nature curses me, and in my heart
_Thy_ curse is fixed; the truth must be laid bare.
It must be told, and borne. I am the man,
(Abused, betrayed, but how it matters not)
Presumptuous above all that ever breathed,
Who, casting as I thought a guilty Person
Upon Heaven's righteous judgment, did become
An instrument of Fiends. Through me, through me,
Thy Father perished.


IDONEA Perished--by what mischance?


MARMADUKE Beloved! --if I dared, so would I call thee--
Conflict must cease, and, in thy frozen heart,
The extremes of suffering meet in absolute peace.
[He gives her a letter. ]


IDONEA (reads)
"Be not surprised if you hear that some signal judgment
has befallen the man who calls himself your father; he is
now with me, as his signature will shew: abstain from
conjecture till you see me.
"HERBERT.
"MARMADUKE.