Sist. O holy saints! that this should be the man,
Who did against his fellow lift the stroke,
Whilst he so loudly call'd.—
Still in mine ear it sounds: O murder! murder!
De Mon. (Starting.) He calls again!
Sist. No, he did call, but now his voice is still'd.
'Tis past.
De Mon. (In great anguish.) 'Tis past!
Sist. Yes it is past, art thou not he who did it?
(De Monfort utters a deep groan, and is supported from falling by the Monks. A noise is heard without.)
Abb. What noise is this of heavy lumb'ring steps,
Like men who with a weighty burden come?
Bern. It is the body: I have orders given
That here it should be laid.
(Enter men bearing the body of Rezenvelt, covered with a white cloth, and set it down in the middle of the room: they then uncover it. De Monfort stands fixed and motionless with horrour, only that a a sudden shivering seems to pass over him when they uncover the corps. The Abbess and Nuns shrink hack and retire to some distance; all the rest fixing their eyes steadfastly upon De Monfort. A long pause.)
Bern, to De Mon.
See'st thou that lifeless corps, those bloody wounds,
See how he lies, who but so shortly since
A living creature was, with all the powers
Of sense, and motion, and humanity?
