SAVELLA:
Can you name any
Who had an interest in his death?
Can you name any
Who had an interest in his death?
Shelley
.
my father's dead.
_55
BEATRICE:
How; dead! he only sleeps; you mistake, brother.
His sleep is very calm, very like death;
'Tis wonderful how well a tyrant sleeps.
He is not dead?
BERNARDO:
Dead; murdered.
LUCRETIA [WITH EXTREME AGITATION]:
Oh no, no!
He is not murdered though he may be dead; _60
I have alone the keys of those apartments.
SAVELLA:
Ha! Is it so?
BEATRICE:
My Lord, I pray excuse us;
We will retire; my mother is not well:
She seems quite overcome with this strange horror.
[EXEUNT LUCRETIA AND BEATRICE. ]
SAVELLA:
Can you suspect who may have murdered him? _65
BERNARDO:
I know not what to think.
SAVELLA:
Can you name any
Who had an interest in his death?
BERNARDO:
Alas!
I can name none who had not, and those most
Who most lament that such a deed is done;
My mother, and my sister, and myself. _70
SAVELLA:
'Tis strange! There were clear marks of violence.
I found the old man's body in the moonlight
Hanging beneath the window of his chamber,
Among the branches of a pine: he could not
Have fallen there, for all his limbs lay heaped _75
And effortless; 'tis true there was no blood. . .
Favour me, Sir; it much imports your house
That all should be made clear; to tell the ladies
That I request their presence.
[EXIT BERNARDO. ]
[ENTER GUARDS, BRINGING IN MARZIO. ]
GUARD:
We have one.
OFFICER:
My Lord, we found this ruffian and another _80
Lurking among the rocks; there is no doubt
But that they are the murderers of Count Cenci:
Each had a bag of coin; this fellow wore
A gold-inwoven robe, which, shining bright
Under the dark rocks to the glimmering moon _85
Betrayed them to our notice: the other fell
Desperately fighting.
SAVELLA:
What does he confess?
OFFICER:
He keeps firm silence; but these lines found on him
May speak.
SAVELLA:
Their language is at least sincere.
BEATRICE:
How; dead! he only sleeps; you mistake, brother.
His sleep is very calm, very like death;
'Tis wonderful how well a tyrant sleeps.
He is not dead?
BERNARDO:
Dead; murdered.
LUCRETIA [WITH EXTREME AGITATION]:
Oh no, no!
He is not murdered though he may be dead; _60
I have alone the keys of those apartments.
SAVELLA:
Ha! Is it so?
BEATRICE:
My Lord, I pray excuse us;
We will retire; my mother is not well:
She seems quite overcome with this strange horror.
[EXEUNT LUCRETIA AND BEATRICE. ]
SAVELLA:
Can you suspect who may have murdered him? _65
BERNARDO:
I know not what to think.
SAVELLA:
Can you name any
Who had an interest in his death?
BERNARDO:
Alas!
I can name none who had not, and those most
Who most lament that such a deed is done;
My mother, and my sister, and myself. _70
SAVELLA:
'Tis strange! There were clear marks of violence.
I found the old man's body in the moonlight
Hanging beneath the window of his chamber,
Among the branches of a pine: he could not
Have fallen there, for all his limbs lay heaped _75
And effortless; 'tis true there was no blood. . .
Favour me, Sir; it much imports your house
That all should be made clear; to tell the ladies
That I request their presence.
[EXIT BERNARDO. ]
[ENTER GUARDS, BRINGING IN MARZIO. ]
GUARD:
We have one.
OFFICER:
My Lord, we found this ruffian and another _80
Lurking among the rocks; there is no doubt
But that they are the murderers of Count Cenci:
Each had a bag of coin; this fellow wore
A gold-inwoven robe, which, shining bright
Under the dark rocks to the glimmering moon _85
Betrayed them to our notice: the other fell
Desperately fighting.
SAVELLA:
What does he confess?
OFFICER:
He keeps firm silence; but these lines found on him
May speak.
SAVELLA:
Their language is at least sincere.
