ALON.--And Rolla--
ROL.--Will remain here in thy place.
ALON.--And die for me? No! Rather eternal tortures rack me.
ROL.--I shall not die, Alonzo. It is thy life Pizarro seeks, not Rolla's;
and from thy prison soon will thy arm deliver me. Or, should it be
otherwise, I am as a blighted plantain standing alone amid the sandy
desert--nothing seeks or lives beneath my shelter. Thou art--a husband and
a father; the being of a lovely wife and helpless infant hangs upon thy
life. Go! go, Alonzo! Go, to save, not thyself, but Cora and thy child!
ALON.--Urge me not thus, my friend! I had prepared to die in peace.
ROL.--To die in peace! devoting her thou'st sworn to live for to madness,
misery, and death! For, be assured, the state I left her in forbids all
hope, but from thy quick return.
ALON.--Oh, God!
ROL.--If thou art yet irresolute, Alonzo, now heed me well. I think thou
hast not known that Rolla ever pledged his word, and shrunk from its
fulfilment. And by the heart of truth, I swear, if thou art proudly
obstinate to deny thy friend the transport of preserving Cora's life, in
thee; no power that sways the will of man shalt stir me hence; and thoul't
but have the desperate triumph of seeing Rolla perish by thy side, with the
assured conviction that Cora and thy child--are lost forever.
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