But thou hast other wives.
HOLOFERNES. No!
JUDITH. Yes! It has been whispered to me that thou hast many wives, and
concubines without number.
HOLOFERNES. It is a lie. For from this night I have put away from me all
women but thee, and there is not one among them to compare with thee.
(_Appealingly_). And since the judgment of heaven hath done a miracle
by thee in the tent of Holofernes this night, wilt thou deny, O
tenderness! that thou hast been divinely appointed to me, and I to thee?
JUDITH. I will not deny that the Lord is in this thing. And for thy
comfort I will tell thee that which thou knowest not.
HOLOFERNES (_expectant_). Tell me.
JUDITH. Before I escaped from Bethulia, as I lay on my bed, a vision
came to me, and it was the vision of Holofernes in the likeness of his
majesty and his might. And I saw the vision by my bed, and so it was
that I came down into the valley.... (_Softly_.) And wouldst thou that I
should have uttered this secret to any but thee!
HOLOFERNES (_full of emotion_). I will kiss thy lips, and thou art mine,
O fragrance!
JUDITH. Kiss my lips.
(Holofernes _kisses her, and then in an excess of feeling stumbles
backward_.
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