_K._ Come hither, Almeh. I have news for thee.
_Al._ O kindest father, Thou healest my heart, that hath the chief enlargement In this deliverance. If they know it not, 1311 May I go tell them?
_K._ Stay. There’s one condition. It lies with thee to fix the day.
_K._ ’Tis thus. I make their liberty A gift to thee the day thou shalt be married To Tarudante.
_K._ The smile that came So quickly to thy face hath fled again. Is the condition hard?
_Al._ To do the thing I never wished, 1320 And if I wished lies not in me to do.
_K._ Thou dost not wish, sayst thou? It lies not in thee?
_Al._ ’Tis true I do not wish this marriage, sire.
_K._ Well, well. To wish to leave thy home and me Were undesired: but to obey my will, To trust thy welfare to my guidance, girl; Not to oppose my dictates....
_Al._ Truly, father, I have found as little occasion to oppose, As I have power to stand against thy will. 1329
_K._ I know it, child: but for that hold thee to blame: Thou hast not wished: ’tis in thy power to wish. Marriage thou dost not wish: but thou must wish What is my will; which to make more thine own I add this boon. Was’t not thy chief desire? Dost thou not thank me?
_K._ ’Tis no small gift, the lives of fifty men.
_Al._ Tell me, sire; with the captives dost thou reckon Prince Ferdinand of Portugal?
_K._ I knew Thou wouldst ask this, and am content to grant it. See how I yield. I will go fetch thy lover: 1340 Be ready to receive him: what thou dost Ruleth his happiness as well as mine, And theirs whose life I give thee. Await him here.
_Al._ (_aside_). It cannot be: I dare not tell—
_Al._ I know not. I have not well understood; not yet considered.
_Al._ Dost thou promise The Christian captives and prince Ferdinand Shall all, the day I am married, be set free?
_Al._ And if I marry not Morocco, 1350 What is their fate?
_K._ They die; unless the prince Surrender Ceuta to me.
_Al._ O sire, the prince Spared Sala’s life: thou owest as much to him: Thou mayst not kill him.
_K._ See, if that’s a scruple, How thou mayst gratify thyself and Sala. I put this in thy power. Canst not thou thank me, And smile on Tarudante?
_Al._ I thank thee, sire. If I seemed not to thank thee, ’twas the effect Of suddenness, nothing but suddenness. I am glad to do it.