human
Lord earl, behold at thy feet a mother who comes to plead for her son,
gpt
Madam, I do not understand,
human
My son is in your power! my darling, my only son! my first-born! Oh, spare him!
gpt
Your son? Madam, I do not understand,
human
You have condemned him to transportation! And he is innocent--as innocent of the crime for which he is to suffer as the angels in heaven,
gpt
Madam, I assure you, I do not understand. Who is your son?
human
You know him as Germaine, but he is my son, Reginald--my only son! Oh, my lord! spare him! spare him!
gpt
Madam, rise.
human
Not until you have pardoned my son.
gpt
That I will never do! Your son has been found guilty of wilful robbery, and has been very justly condemned. I can do nothing for him,
human
My lord, he is innocent!
gpt
I do not believe it! He has been proven guilty,
human
It is false! as false as the black hearts of the perjurers who swore against him! fiercely exclaimed the gipsy;
gpt
Madam, I command you to rise.
human
Never, never! while my son is in chains! Oh, my lord, you do not know, you never can dream, how I have loved that boy! I had no one else in the wide world to love; not a drop of kindred blood ran in any human heart but his; and I loved, I adored, I worshiped him! Oh, Earl De Courcy, I have suffered cold, and hunger, and thirst, and hardship, that he might never want; I have toiled for him night and day, that he might never feel pain; I have stooped to actions I loathed, that he might be happy and free from guilt. And, when he grew older, I gave him up, though it was like rending soul and body apart. I sent him away; I sent him to school with the money that years and years of unceasing toil had enabled me to save. I sent him to be educated with gentlemen. I never came near him, lest any one should suspect his mother was a gipsy. Yes; I gave him up, though it was like tearing my very heart-strings apart, content in knowing he was happy, and in seeing him at a distance at long intervals. For twenty-three years, my life has been one long dream of him; sleeping or waking, in suffering and trial, the thought that he was near me gave me joy and strength. And now he is condemned for life--condemned to a far-off land, among convicts and felons, where I will never see him again! Oh, Lord De Courcy! mercy, mercy for my son!