PAUL. Two? who are they?
LUIS. You and I.
PAUL. I'm not one.
LUIS. Not one? How? Why?
PAUL. No, sir, no. I cannot be
One, nor half a one. These stories
Faith! would frighten fifty Hectors;
What know I of Lady Spectres,
Or of Lord Don Purgatories?
All through life I've kept aloof
From the other world's affairs,
Shunning much superfluous cares;
But, my courage put to proof,
Bid me face a thousand men,
And if I don't cut and run
From the thousand, nay, from one,
Never trust to me again.
For I think it quite a case
Fit for Bedlam, if so high,
That a man would rather die,
Than just take a little race.
Such a trifle! Sir, to me
Life is precious; leave me here,
Where you'd find me, never fear.
LUIS. Here's the house; to-night I'll be,
Philip, your predestined fate.
Now we'll see if heaven pretends
To defend him, and defends.--
Watch here, you, beside the gate.
* * * * *
SCENE II.
A Muffled Figure. -- LUIS and PAUL.
PAUL. There's no need to watch, for hither
Some one comes.
LUIS. A lucky mortal
Am I, if the hour draws nigh
That will two revenges offer.*
Since this night there then will be
Naught to interrupt my project,
Slaying first this muffled figure
And then Philip. Slow and solemn
Comes this man again. I know him
By his gait. But whence this horror
That comes o'er me as I see him,
This strange awe that chills, that shocks me?
[footnote] *Asonante in o -- e to the end of Scene VIII.
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