Don C. You do her wrong; indeed, you do her wrong! 
She is as virtuous as she is fair.

Lara.  How credulous you are!  Why look you, friend,
There’s not a virtuous woman in Madrid,
In this whole city!  And would you persuade me
That a mere dancing-girl, who shows herself,
Nightly, half naked, on the stage, for money,
And with voluptuous motions fires the blood
Of inconsiderate youth, is to be held
A model for her virtue?

Don C. You forget
She is a Gypsy girl.

Lara.  And therefore won
The easier.

Don C. Nay, not to be won at all! 
The only virtue that a Gypsy prizes
Is chastity.  That is her only virtue. 
Dearer than life she holds it.  I remember
A Gypsy woman, a vile, shameless bawd,
Whose craft was to betray the young and fair;
And yet this woman was above all bribes. 
And when a noble lord, touched by her beauty,
The wild and wizard beauty of her race,
Offered her gold to be what she made others,
She turned upon him, with a look of scorn,
And smote him in the face!

Lara.  And does that prove
That Preciosa is above suspicion?

Don C. It proves a nobleman may be repulsed
When he thinks conquest easy.  I believe
That woman, in her deepest degradation,
Holds something sacred, something undefiled,
Some pledge and keepsake of her higher nature,
And, like the diamond in the dark, retains
Some quenchless gleam of the celestial light!

  Lara.  Yet Preciosa would have taken the gold.

  Don C. (rising).  I do not think so.

Lara.  I am sure of it. 
But why this haste?  Stay yet a little longer,
And fight the battles of your Dulcinea.

Don C.  ’T is late.  I must begone, for if I stay
You will not be persuaded.

  Lara.  Yes; persuade me.

  Don C. No one so deaf as he who will not hear!

  Lara.  No one so blind as he who will not see!

Don C. And so good night.  I wish you pleasant dreams,
And greater faith in woman. [Exit.

Lara.  Greater faith! 
I have the greatest faith; for I believe
Victorian is her lover.  I believe
That I shall be to-morrow; and thereafter
Another, and another, and another,
Chasing each other through her zodiac,
As Taurus chases Aries.

(Enter Francisco with a casket.)

Well, Francisco,
What speed with Preciosa?

Fran.  None, my lord. 
She sends your jewels back, and bids me tell you
She is not to be purchased by your gold.

Lara.  Then I will try some other way to win her. 
Pray, dost thou know Victorian?

Fran.  Yes, my lord;
I saw him at the jeweller’s to-day.

  Lara.  What was he doing there?

Fran.  I saw him buy
A golden ring, that had a ruby in it.