LEAH.--Blasphemer! and you dare call on heaven! What commandant hast thou
not broken? Thou shalt not swear falsely--you broke faith with me! Thou
shalt not steal--you stole my heart. Thou shalt not kill--what of life have
you left me?
RUD.--Hold, hold! No more! [_Advancing_.]
LEAH.--[_repelling him_.] The old man who died because I loved you,
the woman who hungered because I followed you, may they follow you in
dreams, and be a drag upon your feet forever. May you wander as I wander,
suffer shame as I now suffer it. Cursed be the land you till: may it keep
faith with you as you have kept faith with me. Cursed, thrice cursed, may
you be evermore, and as my people on Mount Ebal spoke, so speak I thrice!
Amen! Amen! Amen!
[_Rudolf drops on his knees as the curtain descends on the tableau_.]
* * * * *
SCENE FROM LEAH.
ACT V. SCENE I.
RUD.--(_Leah comes down stage gently and sad, listening_). Think,
Madalena, of her lot and mine. While I clasp a tender wife, and a lovely
child; she wanders in foreign lands, suffering and desolate.
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