wailing! Women, flee!
Strange armèd men beside the dwelling there
Lie ambushed! They are rising from their lair.
Back by the road, all you. I will essay
The house; and may our good feet save us!

ORESTES (between ELECTRA and the hut).

                              Stay,
Unhappy woman! Never fear my steel.

ELECTRA (in utter panic).

O bright Apollo! Mercy! See, I kneel;
Slay me not.

ORESTES.

     Others I have yet to slay
Less dear than thou.

ELECTRA.

      Go from me! Wouldst thou lay
Hand on a body that is not for thee?

ORESTES.

None is there I would touch more righteously.

ELECTRA.

Why lurk'st thou by my house? And why a sword?

ORESTES.

Stay. Listen! Thou wilt not gainsay my word.

ELECTRA.

There—I am still. Do what thou wilt with me.
Thou art too strong.

ORESTES.

      A word I bear to thee…
Word of thy brother.

ELECTRA.

      Oh, friend! More than friend!
Living or dead?

ORESTES.

       He lives; so let me send
My comfort foremost, ere the rest be heard.

ELECTRA.

God love thee for the sweetness of thy word!

ORESTES.

God love the twain of us, both thee and me.

ELECTRA.

He lives! Poor brother! In what land weareth he
His exile?

ORESTES.

           Not one region nor one lot
His wasted life hath trod.

ELECTRA.

                           He lacketh not
For bread?

ORESTES.

         Bread hath he; but a man is weak
In exile.

ELECTRA.

What charge laid he on thee? Speak.

ORESTES.

To learn if thou still live, and how the storm,
Living, hath struck thee.

ELECTRA.

      That thou seest; this form
Wasted…

ORESTES.

          Yea, riven with the fire of woe.
I sigh to look on thee.

ELECTRA.

                        My face; and, lo,
My temples of their ancient glory shorn.

ORESTES.

Methinks thy brother haunts thee, being forlorn;
Aye, and perchance thy father, whom they slew…

ELECTRA.

What should be nearer to me than those two?

ORESTES.

And what to him, thy brother, half so dear
As thou?

ELECTRA.
         His is a distant love, not near
At need.

ORESTES.

         But why this dwelling place, this life
Of loneliness?

ELECTRA (with sudden bitterness).

               Stranger, I am a wife….
O better dead!

ORESTES.

               That seals thy brother's doom!
What Prince of Argos…?

ELECTRA.

                         Not the man to whom
My father thought to give me.

ORESTES.

                              Speak; that I
May tell thy brother all.

ELECTRA.

                          'Tis there, hard by,
His dwelling, where I live, far from men's eyes.

ORESTES.

Some ditcher's cot, or cowherd's, by its guise!

ELECTRA (struck with shame for her ingratitude).

A poor man; but true-hearted, and to me
God-fearing.

ORESTES.

How? What fear of God hath he?

ELECTRA.

He hath never held my body to his own.

ORESTES.

Hath he some vow to keep? Or is it done
To scorn thee?

ELECTRA.

                             Nay; he only scorns to sin
Against my father's greatness.

ORESTES.

                                But to win
A princess! Doth his heart not leap for pride?

ELECTRA.

He honoureth not the hand that gave the bride.

ORESTES.

I see. He trembles for Orestes' wrath?

ELECTRA.

Aye, that would move him. But beside, he hath
A gentle heart.

ORESTES.

                Strange! A good man…. I swear
He well shall be requited.

ELECTRA.

                            Whensoe'er
Our wanderer comes again!

ORESTES.

                          Thy mother stays
Unmoved 'mid all thy wrong?

ELECTRA.

                            A lover weighs
More than a child in any woman's heart.

ORESTES.

But what end seeks Aegisthus, by such art
Of shame?

ELECTRA.

          To make mine unborn children low
And weak, even as my husband.

ORESTES.

                              Lest there grow
From thee the avenger?

ELECTRA.

                       Such his purpose is:
For which may I requite him!

ORESTES.

                             And of this
Thy virgin life—Aegisthus knows it?

ELECTRA.

                                     Nay,
We speak it not. It cometh not his way.

ORESTES.

These women hear us. Are they friends to thee?

ELECTRA.

Aye, friends and true. They will keep faithfully
All words of mine and thine.

ORESTES (trying her).

                             Thou art well stayed
With friends. And could Orestes give thee aid
In aught, if e'er…

ELECTRA.

                     Shame on thee! Seest thou not?
Is it not time?

ORESTES (catching her excitement).

                How time? And if he sought
To slay, how should he come at his desire?