MARMADUKE Yes, loves him; ’tis a truth that multiplies
              His guilt a thousand-fold.

OSWALD ’Tis most perplexing: 
              What must be done?

MARMADUKE We will conduct her hither;
              These walls shall witness it—­from first to last
              He shall reveal himself.

OSWALD Happy are we,
              Who live in these disputed tracts, that own
              No law but what each man makes for himself;
              Here justice has indeed a field of triumph.

MARMADUKE Let us begone and bring her hither;—­here
              The truth shall be laid open, his guilt proved
              Before her face.  The rest be left to me.

OSWALD You will be firm:  but though we well may trust
              The issue to the justice of the cause,
              Caution must not be flung aside; remember,
              Yours is no common life.  Self-stationed here,
              Upon these savage confines, we have seen you
              Stand like an isthmus ’twixt two stormy seas
              That oft have checked their fury at your bidding. 
              ’Mid the deep holds of Solway’s mossy waste,
              Your single virtue has transformed a Band
              Of fierce barbarians into Ministers
              Of peace and order.  Aged men with tears
              Have blessed their steps, the fatherless retire
              For shelter to their banners.  But it is,
              As you must needs have deeply felt, it is
              In darkness and in tempest that we seek
              The majesty of Him who rules the world. 
              Benevolence, that has not heart to use
              The wholesome ministry of pain and evil,
              Becomes at last weak and contemptible. 
              Your generous qualities have won due praise,
              But vigorous Spirits look for something more
              Than Youth’s spontaneous products; and to-day
              You will not disappoint them; and hereafter—­

MARMADUKE You are wasting words; hear me then, once for all: 
              You are a Man—­and therefore, if compassion,
              Which to our kind is natural as life,
              Be known unto you, you will love this Woman,
              Even as I do; but I should loathe the light,
              If I could think one weak or partial feeling—­

OSWALD You will forgive me—­

MARMADUKE If I ever knew
              My heart, could penetrate its inmost core,
              ’Tis at this moment.—­Oswald, I have loved
              To be the friend and father of the oppressed,
              A comforter of sorrow;—­there is something
              Which looks like a transition in my soul,
              And yet it is not.—­Let us lead him hither.