Guido Ferranti, thou hast come in time.
What! Does my father live?
Ay! lives in thee.
Thou art the same in mould and lineament,
Carriage and form, and outward semblances;
I trust thou art in noble mind the same.
Oh, tell me of my father; I have lived
But for this moment.
We must be alone.
This is my dearest friend, who out of love
Has followed me to Padua; as two brothers,
There is no secret which we do not share.
There is one secret which ye shall not share; Bid
him go hence.
[to Ascanio] Come back within the hour.
He does not know that nothing in this world Can dim
the perfect mirror of our love. Within the hour
come.
Speak not to him,
There is a dreadful terror in his look.
[laughing]
Nay, nay, I doubt not that he has come to tell
That I am some great Lord of Italy,
And we will have long days of joy together.
Within the hour, dear Ascanio.
[Exit Ascanio.]
Now tell me of my father?
[Sits down on a stone seat.]
Stood he tall?
I warrant he looked tall upon his horse.
His hair was black? or perhaps a reddish gold,
Like a red fire of gold? Was his voice low?
The very bravest men have voices sometimes
Full of low music; or a clarion was it
That brake with terror all his enemies?
Did he ride singly? or with many squires
And valiant gentlemen to serve his state?
For oftentimes methinks I feel my veins
Beat with the blood of kings. Was he a king?
Ay, of all men he was the kingliest.
[proudly] Then when you saw my noble father last
He was set high above the heads of men?
Ay, he was high above the heads of men, [Walks over
to Guido and puts his hand upon his shoulder.]
On a red scaffold, with a butcher’s block Set
for his neck.
[leaping up]
What dreadful man art thou,
That like a raven, or the midnight owl,
Com’st with this awful message from the grave?
