GUIDO.  Has your lordship done?

CARDINAL.  Never, Count Guido, with so good a text. 
Do not stand looking sideways at the truth;
Craft has become thy nature.  Go to her.

  GUIDO.  I have not heart.

  CARDINAL.  I have. [Going.

GUIDO.  Hold, Cardinal! 
My plan is better.  Get her off my hands,
And I care not.

CARDINAL.  What will she say of thee,
In Rimini, when she detects the cheat?

  GUIDO.  I’ll stop my ears up.

CARDINAL.  Guido, thou art weak,
And lack the common fortitude of man.

GUIDO.  And you abuse the license of your garb,
To lesson me.  My lord, I do not dare
To move a finger in these marriage-rites. 
Francesca is a sacrifice, I know,—­
A limb delivered to the surgeon’s knife,
To save our general health.  A truce to this. 
Paolo has the business in his hands: 
Let him arrange it as he will; for I
Will give Count Malatesta no pretext
To recommence the war.

CARDINAL.  Farewell, my lord. 
I’ll neither help nor countenance a fraud. 
You crafty men take comfort to yourselves,
Saying, deceit dies with discovery. 
’Tis false; each wicked action spawns a brood,
And lives in its succession.  You, who shake
Man’s moral nature into storm, should know
That the last wave which passes from your sight
Rolls in and breaks upon eternity! [Exit.

GUIDO.  Why, that’s a very grand and solemn thought: 
I’ll mention it to Dante.  Gentlemen,
What see they from the wall?

  NOBLEMAN.  The train, my lord.

  GUIDO.  Inform my daughter.

  NOBLEMAN.  She is here, my lord.

    Enter FRANCESCA, RITTA, LADIES, ATTENDANTS, etc.

FRANCESCA.  See, father, what a merry face I have,
And how my ladies glisten!  I will try
To do my utmost, in my love for you
And the good people of Ravenna.  Now,
As the first shock is over, I expect
To feel quite happy.  I will wed the Count,
Be he whate’er he may.  I do not speak
In giddy recklessness.  I’ve weighed it all,—­
’Twixt hope and fear, knowledge and ignorance,—­
And reasoned out my duty to your wish. 
I have no yearnings towards another love: 
So, if I show my husband a desire
To fill the place with which he honours me,
According to its duties, even he—­
Were he less noble than Count Lanciotto—­
Must smile upon my efforts, and reward
Good will with willing grace.  One pang remains. 
Parting from home and kindred is a thing
None but the heartless, or the miserable,
Can do without a tear.  This home of mine
Has filled my heart with two-fold happiness,
Taking and giving love abundantly. 
Farewell, Ravenna!  If I bless thee not,
Tis that thou seem’st too blessed; and ’twere strange
In me to offer what thou’st always given.