Page:Keats - Poetical Works, DeWolfe, 1884.djvu/371

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OTHO THE GREAT.
355
 Ludolph. This was but half expected, my good sire.Yet I am grieved at it, to the full height,As though my hopes of favor had been whole.
 Otho. How you indulge yourself! What can you hope for?
 Ludolph. Nothing, my liege, I have to hope for nothing.I come to greet you as a loving son,And then depart, if I may be so free,Seeing that blood of yours in my warm veinsHas not yet mitigated into milk.
 Otho. What would you, sir?
 Ludolph.A lenient banishment;So please you let me unmolested passThis Conrad's gates, to the wide air again.I want no more. A rebel wants no more.
 Otho. And shall I let a rebel loose againTo muster kites and eagles 'gainst my head?No, obstinate boy, you shall be kept caged up,Served with harsh food, with scum for Sunday-drink.
 Ludolph. Indeed!
 Otho.And chains too heavy for your life:I'll choose a jailor, whose swart monstrous faceShall be a hell to look upon, and she—
 Ludolph. Ha!
 Otho. Shall be your fair Auranthe.
 Ludolph. Amaze! Amaze!
 Otho. To-day you marry her.
 Ludolph. This is a sharp jest!
 Otho. No. None at all. When have I said a lie?
 Ludolph. If I sleep not, I am a waking wretch.
 Otho. Not a word more. Let me embrace my child
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