All chaste embraces on the public stage,

All soft adventures, which the liberal stars

Have winked at, as the natural course of things,

Have been surpassed here by my friend, the student, And this sweet Gipsy lass, fair Preciosa!

PRECIOSA.

Señor Hypolito! I kiss your hand.

Pray, shall I tell your fortune?

HYPOLITO.

Not to-night;

For, should you treat me as you did Victorian,

And send me back to marry maids forlorn,

My wedding day would last from now till Christmas.
CHISPA (within).

What ho! the Gipsies, ho! Beltran Cruzado!
Halloo! halloo! halloo! halloo!

(Enters booted, with a whip and lantern.)

VICTORIAN.

What now?

Why such a fearful din? Hast thou been robbed?

CHISPA.

Ay, robbed and murdered; and good evening to you, My worthy masters.

VICTORIAN.

Speak; what brings thee here? CHISPA (to Preciosa).

Good news from Court; good news! Beltran Cruzado, The Count of the Calés, is not your father,

But your true father has returned to Spain

Laden with wealth.

You are no more a Gipsy!

Strange as a Moorish tale!

VICTORIAN.

CHISPA.

And we have all

Been drinking at the tavern to your health,
As wells drink in November, when it rains.

Where is the gentleman ?

Is this a dream?

Let me sleep on,

Repeat thy story!

VICTORIAN.

CHISPA.

As the old song says,
His body is in Segovia,

His soul is in Madrid.

PRECIOSA.

O, if it be a dream,
and do not wake me yet!
Say I'm not deceived!

Say that I do not dream! I am awake;

This is the Gipsy camp; this is Victorian,
And this his friend, Hypolito! Speak! speak!
Let me not wake and find it all a dream!

VICTORIAN.

It is a dream, sweet child! a waking dream,
A blissful certainty, a vision bright

Of that rare happiness, which even on earth
Heaven gives to those it loves. Now art thou rich,
As thou wast ever beautiful and good;

And I am now the beggar.

A hand to give.

PRECIOSA (giving him her hand).

I have still

CHISPA (aside).

And I have two to take.

I've heard my grandmother say, that Heaven gives almonds
To those who have no teeth. That's nuts to crack.
I've teeth to spare, but where shall I find almonds?

VICTORIAN.

What more of this strange story?

CHISPA.

Nothing more.

Your friend, Don Carlos, is now at the village

Showing to Pedro Crespo, the Alcalde,

The proofs of what I tell you. The old hag,
Who stole you in your childhood, has confessed;
And probably they'll hang her for the crime,
To make the celebration more complete.

VICTORIAN.

No; let it be a day of general joy;

Fortune comes well to all, that comes not late.
Now let us join Don Carlos.

HYPOLITO.

So farewell,

Sweet serenades,

The student's wandering life!
Sung under ladies' windows in the night,
And all that makes vacation beautiful!
To you, ye cloistered shades of Alcalá,
To you, ye radiant visions of romance,
Written in books, but here surpassed by truth,
The Bachelor Hypolito returns,

And leaves the Gipsy with the Spanish Student.

SCENE VI.

A

A pass in the Guadarrama mountains. Early morning. muleteer crosses the stage, sitting sideways on his mule, and lighting a paper cigar with flint and steel.

SONG.

If thou art sleeping, maiden,

Awake and open thy door,

'T is the break of day, and we must away,

O'er meadow, and mount, and moor.

Wait not to find thy slippers,

But come with thy naked feet;

We shall have to pass through the dewy grass,

And waters wide and fleet.

(Disappears down the pass. Enter a Monk. A Shepherd appears

on the rocks above.)

MONK.

Ave Maria, gratia plena. Olá! good man!

Santa Maria! Come with me to San Ildefonso, and thou shalt be well rewarded.

SHEPHERD.

What wilt thou give me?

MONK.

An Agnus Dei and my benediction.

(They disappear. A mounted Contrabandista passes, wrapped in his cloak, and a gun at his saddle-bow. He goes down the pass singing.)

SONG.

Worn with speed is my good steed,
And I march me hurried, worried;
Onward, caballito mio,

With the white star in thy forehead!
Onward, for here comes the Ronda,
And I hear their rifles crack!
Ay, jaléo! Ay, ay, jaléo!

Ay, jaléo! They cross our track.

(Song dies away. Enter PRECIOSA, on horseback, attended by VICTORIAN, HYPOLITO, DON CARLOS, and CHISPA, on foot, and armed.)

VICTORIAN.

This is the highest point. Here let us rest.

See, Preciosa, see how all about us

Kneeling, like hooded friars, the misty mountains
Receive the benediction of the sun!

Where yonder steeples flash like lifted halberds,
San Ildefonso, from its noisy belfries,

Sends up a salutation to the morn,

As if an army smote their brazen shields,

And shouted victory!