_Lod._ They are gone; their victim remains-- oh, let but his escape be effected through my aid, and then how soon this old weak frame ceases to feel, I care not! (_he descends_)
_Venoni._ Where am I? have they left me? the mist which obscures my sight allows me to distinguish nothing; the objects which surround me seem all confused; a thousand wild distorted images distract my brain-- I must give way.
_Lod._ Alas, poor youth! on the ground? I’ll hasten to pour upon his wounded heart the balm of consolation-- yet hold! may they not return! yet a few moments--
_Venoni._ (_rising_) The clouds disperse. I am alone-- they are gone-- doubtless are gone for ever! what? and shall then the barbarian triumph? shall then Josepha die unavenged? she must, she must! then farewell, liberty; farewell hope! despair, despair! ha, what glitters-- a dagger? a tomb? doubtless designed for me-- tis there that all sorrows terminate! tis there, that I shall dread no more the treachery and crimes of man, his perfidious friendship, his dissembled spite, his infernal thirst for vengeance! ha, and if all this indeed be so-- why not this instant seize a blessing within my grasp? why not at once defeat the malice of my jailors? it shall be so, and thus-- (_going to stab himself, when Lodovico arrests his arm_)
_Lod._ Short-sighted mortal! blush to have attempted that impious act! you despaired of succour; you doubted the goodness of Providence; and at that very moment heaven had commissioned me to comfort and preserve you.
_Venoni._ What are you? what mean you? speak, oh, speak!
_Lod._ Like yourself, I am the object of Cœlestino’s hatred; like yourself was I condemned to descend alive into the tomb. Mark me, young man. I knew well, that between these vaults and those belonging to the adjoining convent there existed various private communications-- the faint hope of discovering one of them formed the only amusement of my solitary hours: I sought it-- I persevered-- youth, I have found it--
_Venoni._ Have found it? go on, for heaven’s sake.
_Lod._ Have found it here; found it, where its existence is probably unknown even to the prior, since he selected this dungeon for your confinement-- observe this private door-- (_opening it_) this passage leads to a closed portal; its fastnings are massy-- I endeavoured but in vain to force them; that bar, which I wrenched from my dungeon door--