The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde: 250+ Titles in One Edition. Оскар Уайльд

it,

       Will he not have some loathing for his life,

       Repent, perchance, and lead a better life,

       Or will he mock because a young man spared

       His natural enemy? I do not care.

       Father, it is thy bidding that I do,

       Thy bidding, and the bidding of my love

       Which teaches me to know thee as thou art.

       [Ascends staircase stealthily, and just as he reaches out his hand to draw back the curtain the Duchess appears all in white. GUIDO starts back.]

      DUCHESS

       Guido! what do you here so late?

      GUIDO

       O white and spotless angel of my life,

       Sure thou hast come from Heaven with a message

       That mercy is more noble than revenge?

      DUCHESS

       There is no barrier between us now.

      GUIDO

       None, love, nor shall be.

      DUCHESS

       I have seen to that.

      GUIDO

       Tarry here for me.

      DUCHESS

       No, you are not going?

       You will not leave me as you did before?

      GUIDO

       I will return within a moment’s space,

       But first I must repair to the Duke’s chamber,

       And leave this letter and this dagger there,

       That when he wakes -

      DUCHESS

       When who wakes?

      GUIDO

       Why, the Duke.

      DUCHESS

       He will not wake again.

      GUIDO

       What, is he dead?

      DUCHESS

       Ay! he is dead.

      GUIDO

       O God! how wonderful

       Are all thy secret ways! Who would have said

       That on this very night, when I had yielded

       Into thy hands the vengeance that is thine,

       Thou with thy finger wouldst have touched the man,

       And bade him come before thy judgment seat.

      DUCHESS

       I have just killed him.

      GUIDO

       [in horror] Oh!

      DUCHESS

       He was asleep;

       Come closer, love, and I will tell you all.

       I had resolved to kill myself tonight.

       About an hour ago I waked from sleep,

       And took my dagger from beneath my pillow,

       Where I had hidden it to serve my need,

       And drew it from the sheath, and felt the edge,

       And thought of you, and how I loved you, Guido,

       And turned to fall upon it, when I marked

       The old man sleeping, full of years and sin;

       There lay he muttering curses in his sleep,

       And as I looked upon his evil face

       Suddenly like a flame there flashed across me,

       There is the barrier which Guido spoke of:

       You said there lay a barrier between us,

       What barrier but he? -

       I hardly know

       What happened, but a steaming mist of blood

       Rose up between us two.

      GUIDO

       Oh, horrible!

      DUCHESS

       And then he groaned,

       And then he groaned no more! I only heard

       The dripping of the blood upon the floor.

      GUIDO

       Enough, enough.

      DUCHESS

       Will you not kiss me now?

       Do you remember saying that women’s love

       Turns men to angels? well, the love of man

       Turns women into martyrs; for its sake

       We do or suffer anything.

      GUIDO

       O God!

      DUCHESS

       Will you not speak?

      GUIDO

       I cannot speak at all.

      DUCHESS

       Let as not talk of this! Let us go hence:

       Is not the barrier broken down between us?

       What would you more? Come, it is almost morning.

       [Puts her hand on GUIDO’S.]

      GUIDO

       [breaking from her]

       O damned saint! O angel fresh from Hell!

       What bloody devil tempted thee to this!

       That thou hast killed thy husband, that is nothing -

       Hell was already gaping for his soul -

       But thou hast murdered Love, and in its place

       Hast set a horrible and bloodstained thing,

       Whose very breath breeds pestilence and plague,

       And strangles Love.

      DUCHESS

       [in amazed wonder]

       I did it all for you.

       I would not have you do it, had you willed it,

       For I would keep you without blot or stain,

       A thing unblemished, unassailed, untarnished.

       Men do not know what women do for love.

       Have I not wrecked my soul for your dear sake,

       Here and hereafter?

      GUIDO

       No, do not touch me,

       Between us lies a thin red stream of blood;

       I dare not look across it: when you stabbed him

       You stabbed Love with a sharp knife to the heart.

       We cannot meet again.

      DUCHESS

       [wringing her hands]

       For you! For you!

       I did it all for you: have you forgotten?

       You said there was a barrier between us;

       That barrier lies now i’ the upper chamber

       Upset, overthrown, beaten, and battered down,

       And will not part us ever.

      GUIDO

       No, you mistook:

       Sin was the barrier, you have raised it up;

       Crime was the barrier, you have set it there.

       The barrier was murder, and your hand

       Has builded it so high it shuts out heaven,