Act 3 — Scene X.
Ernest Bell translation
The Templar, Daja.
TEMPLAR.
Too much, indeed! Strange that the human brain
So infinite of comprehension, should
At times with a mere trifle be engrossed,
Suddenly filled, and all at once quite full,
No matter what it teems with. But the soul
Soon calms again, and the fermenting stuff
Makes itself room, restoring life and order.
And is this, then, the first time that I love?
And was the glow to which I gave that name
Not love at all? And is this love alone
Which now with burning flame consumes my heart?
DAJA (who has crept up to his side).
Sir Knight! Sir Knight!
TEMPLAR.
Who calls? What, Daja, you!
DAJA.
Yes, I am here; I managed to slip by him.
But he can see us where we stand. Come nearer,
And place yourself with me behind this tree.
TEMPLAR.
Why so mysterious? What's the secret, Daja?
DAJA.
Yes, 'tis a secret which has brought me hither--
A twofold secret. Part is known to me,
The other part to you. Come, let us change:
First tell me yours, and then I'll tell you mine.
TEMPLAR.
Yes, willingly, when I have ascertained
What you call mine. But yours will throw a light
Upon the whole. Begin, then.
DAJA.
That's not fair;
You must begin, Sir Knight, and I will follow.
For be assured my secret's nothing worth,
Unless I hear yours first. Then lose no time,
For if I guess it, you've not trusted me;
My secret, then, will be my own, and yours
Worth nothing. But do you suppose, Sir Knight,
That you can hide such secrets from a woman?
TEMPLAR.
Secrets we often are unconscious of.
DAJA.
Perhaps. But I must prove myself your friend
And tell you all. Confess how happened it
That you so suddenly took leave of us,
And that with Nathan you will not return?
Has Recha, then, made no impression on you,
Or made too deep a one, perchance? Oh yes!
Too deep--too deep! You are a hapless bird
Whose fluttering wing the fatal twig has limed,
Confess it, plainly, with a word, you love--
Love her to madness, and I'll tell you then----
TEMPLAR.
To madness? Ah! you understand it well.
DAJA.
Well, grant the love, the madness I'll resign.
TEMPLAR.
Because, of course, there is no doubt of it.
A Templar love a Jewess!----
DAJA.
Why, it seems
Absurd. But often there's more fitness in
Some things than we can readily discern;
And 'twould not be the first time that our Lord
Had drawn us to Him by a secret path
Which we had ne'er discovered of ourselves.
TEMPLAR.
Solemnly spoken I (and if for our Lord
I substituted Providence, 'twere true).
You make me curious, far beyond my wont.
DAJA.
This is the land of miracles!
TEMPLAR.
Ay, true,
Of miracles! Can it be otherwise,
When all the world flocks hither? Dearest Daja,
You have your wish; so take it as confessed
That I do love her, nor can comprehend
How I can live without her.
DAJA.
Can this be?
Then swear, Sir Knight, to make her yours--to save
Her here on earth--to save her there for ever.
TEMPLAR.
How can I this? How can I swear to do
What stands not in my power.
DAJA.
'Tis in your power!
One single word brings it within your power.
TEMPLAR.
But will her father smile upon my suit?
DAJA.
Her father, truly! He shall be compelled.
TEMPLAR.
Compell'd! What, has he fallen among thieves?
Compell'd!
DAJA.
Then hear me. Nathan will consent:
He must consent.
TEMPLAR.
Consent! and must! Oh, Daja!
I have already tried to touch that chord;
It vibrates not responsive.
DAJA.
What! reject you?
TEMPLAR.
He answered me in such discordant tone
That I was hurt.
DAJA.
What say you? Did you breathe
The shadow of a wish to marry Recha.
And did not Nathan leap for joy? Did he
Draw coldly back--raise obstacles?
TEMPLAR.
He did.
DAJA.
Then I'll deliberate no moment more.
TEMPLAR (after a pause).
And yet you are deliberating still.
DAJA.
Nathan in all things has been ever good.
I owe him much. Did he refuse to listen?
God knows it grieves me to constrain him thus.
TEMPLAR.
I pray you, Daja, now to terminate
This dire uncertainty. But if you doubt
Whether the thing you would impart to me
Be right or wrong, worthy of shame or honour,
Then tell it not, and henceforth I'll forget
You have a secret it were well to hide.
DAJA.
Your words but spur me on to tell you all.
Then learn that Recha is no Jewess--that
She is a Christian maid.
TEMPLAR (coldly).
I wish you joy!
At last the tedious labour's at an end.
The birth-pangs have not hurt you. Still go on
With undiminished zeal, and people heaven
When you are fit no more to people earth.
DAJA.
How, Knight! and does the news I bring deserve
Such bitter taunts? Does it confer no joy
On you to hear that Recha is a Christian,
On you, her lover, and a Christian knight?
TEMPLAR.
And more especially since Recha is
A Christian of your making?
DAJA.
Think you so?
Then I would fain see him that may convert her.
It is her fate long since to have been that
Which she can now no more become.
TEMPLAR.
Explain,
Or leave me.
DAJA.
Well! she is a Christian maid,
Of Christian parents born--and is baptised.
TEMPLAR (hastily).
And Nathan!
DAJA.
Not her father.
TEMPLAR.
Nathan not
Her father? Are you sure of that?
DAJA.
I am;
The truth has cost me tears of blood. He's not.
TEMPLAR.
But as his daughter he has brought her up,
Brought up the Christian maiden as a Jewess?
DAJA.
Just so.
TEMPLAR.
And knows she aught about her birth?
Has she not learnt from him that she was born
A Christian and no Jewess?
DAJA.
Never yet.
TEMPLAR.
And he not only let the child grow up
In this mistaken notion, but he leaves
The woman in it.
DAJA.
Ay, alas!
TEMPLAR.
Oh, Nathan!
How can the wise, good Nathan lend himself
To stifle Nature's voice--to misdirect
The yearnings of a heart in such a way
Which, to itself abandoned, would have formed
Another bias, Daja? Ay, in truth,
The secret is of moment, and may have
Important issues. But I feel perplexed:
I know not how I ought to act. But go,
Let me have breathing time. He may approach,
He may surprise us suddenly. Farewell!
DAJA.
I tremble with affright.
TEMPLAR.
And I can scarce
Express my thoughts. But go; and should you chance
To meet him, say he'll find me at the Sultan's.
DAJA.
Let him not see that you have any thing
Against him. That 'twere well to keep reserved,
To give the proper turn to things at last.
It may remove your scruples, touching Recha.
But if you take her back to Europe, Knight,
You will not leave me here?
TEMPLAR.
We'll see, now go!