HERBERT (feebly)
                                     A stranger has done this,
              And in the arms of a stranger I must die.

ELDRED Nay, think not so:  come, let me raise you up: 
      [Raises him.]
              This is a dismal place—­well—­that is well—­
              I was too fearful—­take me for your guide
              And your support—­my hut is not far off.
       [Draws him gently off the stage.]

SCENE—­A room in the Hostel—­MARMADUKE and OSWALD

MARMADUKE But for Idonea!—­I have cause to think
              That she is innocent.

OSWALD Leave that thought awhile,
              As one of those beliefs which in their hearts
              Lovers lock up as pearls, though oft no better
              Than feathers clinging to their points of passion. 
              This day’s event has laid on me the duty
              Of opening out my story; you must hear it,
              And without further preface.—­In my youth,
              Except for that abatement which is paid
              By envy as a tribute to desert,
              I was the pleasure of all hearts, the darling
              Of every tongue—­as you are now.  You’ve heard
              That I embarked for Syria.  On our voyage
              Was hatched among the crew a foul Conspiracy
              Against my honour, in the which our Captain
              Was, I believed, prime Agent.  The wind fell;
              We lay becalmed week after week, until
              The water of the vessel was exhausted;
              I felt a double fever in my veins,
              Yet rage suppressed itself;—­to a deep stillness
              Did my pride tame my pride;—­for many days,
              On a dead sea under a burning sky,
              I brooded o’er my injuries, deserted
              By man and nature;—­if a breeze had blown,
              It might have found its way into my heart,
              And I had been—­no matter—­do you mark me?

MARMADUKE Quick—­to the point—­if any untold crime
              Doth haunt your memory.

OSWALD Patience, hear me further!—­
              One day in silence did we drift at noon
              By a bare rock, narrow, and white, and bare;
              No food was there, no drink, no grass, no shade,
              No tree, nor jutting eminence, nor form
              Inanimate large as the body of man,
              Nor any living thing whose lot of life
              Might stretch beyond the measure of one moon. 
              To dig for water on the spot, the Captain
              Landed with a small troop, myself being one: 
              There I reproached him with his treachery. 
              Imperious at all times, his temper rose;