human
Woman, your son is guilty. I cannot pardon him!
gpt
He is not guilty! Perish the soul so base as to believe such a falsehood of my high-hearted boy! cried the gipsy, dashing fiercely back her wildly-streaming black hair.
human
He my proud, glorious, kindly-hearted Reginald, stoop to such a crime! Oh, sooner could the angels themselves be guilty of it than he!
gpt
Pardon, pardon for my son!
human
Madam, I cannot. I pity you. Heaven knows I do! but he is guilty, and must suffer.
gpt
Oh, my God! how shall I convince him? cried the wretched woman, wringing her hands in wildest despair.
human
Oh, Earl De Courcy! you, too, have a son, handsome, gallant and noble, the pride of your old age, the last scion of your proud race! For his sake, for the sake of your son, pardon mine!
gpt
Once more I tell you, I cannot. Your son is condemned; to-morrow his sentence will be executed, and I have no power to avert it. And, madam, though I pity you deeply, I must again say he deserves it. Nay--hear me out. I know you do not believe it; you think him innocent, and, being his mother, it is natural you should think so; but, believe me, he is none the less guilty. Your son deserves his fate, all the more so for his ingratitude to you, after all you have done for him. I deeply pity you, as Heaven hears me, I do!
human
Oh, then, for my sake, if there is one spark of pity for me in your heart, do not kill me! For, Lord De Courcy, it will be a double murder, his death and mine, if this sentence is executed.
gpt
The law must take its course; I cannot prevent it. And once more, madam, I beseech you to rise. You should kneel to God alone.
human
God would forgive him, had I pleaded to Him thus; but you, tiger-heart, _you_ will not! shrieked the woman, throwing up her arms in the impotence of her despair.
gpt
Oh, lord earl, I have never knelt to God or man before; and to have my petition spurned now! You hold my life in the hollow of your hand, and you will not grant it!
human
I tell you I cannot.
gpt
You can--you can! It is in your power? You are great, and rich, and powerful, and can have his sentence annulled. By your soul's salvation, by your hopes of heaven, by your mother's grave, by Him whom you worship, I conjure you to save my son!