Maid: Mistress mine, be sure I do not hesitate to call thee by that
name, seeing that I thought it thy right in thine own house also,
when we dwelt in Troy-land; as I was ever thy friend and thy husband's
while yet he was alive, so now have I come with strange tidings, in
terror lest any of our masters learn hereof but still out of pity
for thee; for Menelaus and his daughter are forming dire plots against
thee, whereof thou must beware.
Andromache: Ah! kind companion of my bondage, for such thou art to
her, who, erst thy queen, is now sunk in misery; what are they doing?
What new schemes are they devising in their eagerness to take away
my wretched life?
Maid: Alas! poor lady, they intend to slay thy son, whom thou hast
privily conveyed from out the house.
Andromache: Ah me! Has she heard that my babe was put out of her reach?
Who told her? Woe is me! how utterly undone!
Maid: I know not, but thus much of their schemes I heard myself; and
Menelaus has left the house to fetch him.
Studies
