No More Learning

You start--where are we?


MARMADUKE Oh, there is no danger;
The cold blast struck me.


HERBERT
'Twas a foolish question.


MARMADUKE But when you were an Outcast? --Heaven is just;
Your piety would not miss its due reward;
The little Orphan then would be your succour,
And do good service, though she knew it not.


HERBERT I turned me from the dwellings of my Fathers,
Where none but those who trampled on my rights
Seemed to remember me. To the wide world
I bore her, in my arms; her looks won pity;
She was my Raven in the wilderness,
And brought me food. Have I not cause to love her?

MARMADUKE Yes.


HERBERT More than ever Parent loved a Child?


MARMADUKE Yes, yes.


HERBERT I will not murmur, merciful God!
I will not murmur; blasted as I have been,
Thou hast left me ears to hear my Daughter's voice,
And arms to fold her to my heart. Submissively
Thee I adore, and find my rest in faith.


[Enter OSWALD.
]


OSWALD Herbert! --confusion! (aside).
Here it is, my Friend,
[Presents the Horn. ]
A charming beverage for you to carouse,
This bitter night.


HERBERT Ha! Oswald! ten bright crosses
I would have given, not many minutes gone,
To have heard your voice.


OSWALD Your couch, I fear, good Baron,
Has been but comfortless; and yet that place,
When the tempestuous wind first drove us hither,
Felt warm as a wren's nest. You'd better turn
And under covert rest till break of day,
Or till the storm abate.
(To MARMADUKE aside. ) He has restored you.
No doubt you have been nobly entertained?
But soft! --how came he forth? The Night-mare Conscience
Has driven him out of harbour?