No More Learning

OSWALD And leading Herbert.


MARMADUKE We must let them pass--
This thicket will conceal us.


[They step aside. ]

[Enter IDONEA, leading HERBERT blind. ]


IDONEA Dear Father, you sigh deeply; ever since
We left the willow shade by the brook-side,
Your natural breathing has been troubled.


HERBERT Nay,
You are too fearful; yet must I confess,
Our march of yesterday had better suited
A firmer step than mine.


IDONEA That dismal Moor--
In spite of all the larks that cheered our path,
I never can forgive it: but how steadily
_You_ paced along, when the bewildering moonlight
Mocked me with many a strange fantastic shape! --
I thought the Convent never would appear;
It seemed to move away from us: and yet,
That you are thus the fault is mine; for the air
Was soft and warm, no dew lay on the grass,
And midway on the waste ere night had fallen
I spied a Covert walled and roofed with sods--
A miniature; belike some Shepherd-boy,
Who might have found a nothing-doing hour
Heavier than work, raised it: within that hut
We might have made a kindly bed of heath,
And thankfully there rested side by side
Wrapped in our cloaks, and, with recruited strength,
Have hailed the morning sun. But cheerily, Father,--
That staff of yours, I could almost have heart
To fling't away from you: you make no use
Of me, or of my strength;--come, let me feel
That you do press upon me. There--indeed
You are quite exhausted. Let us rest awhile
On this green bank.


[He sits down. ]


HERBERT (after some time)
Idonea, you are silent,
And I divine the cause.


IDONEA Do not reproach me:
I pondered patiently your wish and will
When I gave way to your request; and now,
When I behold the ruins of that face,
Those eyeballs dark--dark beyond hope of light,
And think that they were blasted for my sake,
The name of Marmaduke is blown away:
Father, I would not change that sacred feeling
For all this world can give.


HERBERT Nay, be composed:
Few minutes gone a faintness overspread
My frame, and I bethought me of two things
I ne'er had heart to separate--my grave,
And thee, my Child!
IDONEA Believe me, honoured Sire!
'Tis weariness that breeds these gloomy fancies,
And you mistake the cause: you hear the woods
Resound with music, could you see the sun,
And look upon the pleasant face of Nature--


HERBERT I comprehend thee--I should be as cheerful
As if we two were twins; two songsters bred
In the same nest, my spring-time one with thine.
My fancies, fancies if they be, are such
As come, dear Child! from a far deeper source
Than bodily weariness. While here we sit
I feel my strength returning. --The bequest
Of thy kind Patroness, which to receive
We have thus far adventured, will suffice
To save thee from the extreme of penury;
But when thy Father must lie down and die,
How wilt thou stand alone?


IDONEA Is he not strong?
Is he not valiant?


HERBERT Am I then so soon
Forgotten? have my warnings passed so quickly
Out of thy mind? My dear, my only, Child;
Thou wouldst be leaning on a broken reed--
This Marmaduke--


IDONEA O could you hear his voice:
Alas! you do not know him. He is one
(I wot not what ill tongue has wronged him with you)
All gentleness and love. His face bespeaks
A deep and simple meekness: and that Soul,
Which with the motion of a virtuous act
Flashes a look of terror upon guilt,
Is, after conflict, quiet as the ocean,
By a miraculous finger, stilled at once.


HERBERT Unhappy Woman!


IDONEA Nay, it was my duty
Thus much to speak; but think not I forget--
Dear Father!