Chapter 1

_Enter_ GUENDOLEN _and_ MADAN.

GUENDOLEN.

Child, hast thou looked upon thy grandsire dead?

MADAN.

Ay.

GUENDOLEN.

Then thou sawest our Britain’s heart and head Death-stricken. Seemed not there my sire to thee More great than thine, or all men living? We Stand shadows of the fathers we survive: Earth bears no more nor sees such births alive.

MADAN.

Why, he was great of thews—and wise, thou say’st: Yet seems my sire to me the fairer-faced— The kinglier and the kindlier.

GUENDOLEN.

Yea, his eyes Are liker seas that feel the summering skies In concord of sweet colour—and his brow Shines gentler than my father’s ever: thou, So seeing, dost well to hold thy sire so dear.

MADAN.

I said not that his love sat yet so near My heart as thine doth: rather am I thine, Thou knowest, than his.

GUENDOLEN.

Nay—rather seems Locrine Thy sire than I thy mother.

MADAN.

Wherefore?

GUENDOLEN.

Boy, Because of all our sires who fought for Troy Most like thy father and my lord Locrine, I think, was Paris.

MADAN.

How may man divine Thy meaning? Blunt am I, thou knowest, of wit; And scarce yet man—men tell me.

GUENDOLEN.

Ask not it. I meant not thou shouldst understand—I spake As one that sighs, to ease her heart of ache, And would not clothe in words her cause for sighs— Her naked cause of sorrow.

MADAN.

Wert thou wise, Mother, thy tongue had chosen of two things one— Silence, or speech.

GUENDOLEN.

Speech had I chosen, my son, I had wronged thee—yea, perchance I have wronged thine ears Too far, to say so much.

MADAN.

Nay, these are tears That gather toward thine eyelids now. Thou hast broken Silence—if now thy speech die down unspoken, Thou dost me wrong indeed—but more than mine The wrong thou dost thyself is.

GUENDOLEN.

And Locrine— Were not thy sire wronged likewise of me?

MADAN.

Yea.

GUENDOLEN.

Yet—I may choose yet—nothing will I say More.

MADAN.

Choose, and have thy choice; it galls not me.

GUENDOLEN.

Son, son! thy speech is bitterer than the sea.

MADAN.

Yet, were the gulfs of hell not bitterer, thine Might match thy son’s, who hast called my sire—Locrine— Thy lord, and lord of all this land—the king Whose name is bright and sweet as earth in spring, Whose love is mixed with Britain’s very life As heaven with earth at sunrise—thou, his wife, Hast called him—and the poison of the word Set not thy tongue on fire—I lived and heard— Coward.

GUENDOLEN.

Thou liest.

MADAN.

If then thy speech rang true, Why, now it rings not false.

GUENDOLEN.

Thou art treacherous too— His heart, thy father’s very heart is thine— O, well beseems it, meet it is, Locrine, That liar and traitor and changeling he should be Who, though I bare him, was begot by thee.

MADAN.

How have I lied, mother? Was this the lie, That thou didst call my father coward, and I Heard?

GUENDOLEN.

Nay—I did but liken him with one Not all unlike him; thou, my child, his son, Art more unlike thy father.

MADAN.

Was not then, Of all our fathers, all recorded men, The man whose name, thou sayest, is like his name— Paris—a sign in all men’s mouths of shame?

GUENDOLEN.

Nay, save when heaven would cross him in the fight, He bare him, say the minstrels, as a knight— Yea, like thy father.

MADAN.

Shame then were it none Though men should liken me to him?

GUENDOLEN.

My son, I had rather see thee—see thy brave bright head, Strong limbs, clear eyes—drop here before me dead.

MADAN.

If he were true man, wherefore?

GUENDOLEN.

False was he; No coward indeed, but faithless, trothless—we Hold therefore, as thou sayest, his princely name Unprincely—dead in honour—quick in shame.

MADAN.

And his to mine thou likenest?

GUENDOLEN.

Thine? to thine? God rather strike thy life as dark as mine Than tarnish thus thine honour! For to me Shameful it seems—I know not if it be— For men to lie, and smile, and swear, and lie, And bear the gods of heaven false witness. I Can hold not this but shameful.

MADAN.

Thou dost well. I had liefer cast my soul alive to hell Than play a false man false. But were he true And I the traitor—then what heaven should do I wot not, but myself, being once awake Out of that treasonous trance, were fain to slake With all my blood the fire of shame wherein My soul should burn me living in my sin.

GUENDOLEN.

Thy soul? Yea, there—how knowest thou, boy, so well?— The fire is lit that feeds the fires of hell. Mine is aflame this long time now—but thine— O, how shall God forgive thee this, Locrine, That thou, for shame of these thy treasons done, Hast rent the soul in sunder of thy son?

MADAN.

My heart is whole yet, though thy speech be fire Whose flame lays hold upon it. Hath my sire Wronged thee?

GUENDOLEN.

Nay, child, I lied—I did but rave— I jested—was my face, then, sad and grave, When most I jested with thee? Child, my brain Is wearied, and my heart worn down with pain: I thought awhile, for very sorrow’s sake, To play with sorrow—try thy spirit, and take Comfort—God knows I know not what I said, My father, whom I loved, being newly dead.

MADAN.

I pray thee that thou jest with me no more Thus.

GUENDOLEN.

Dost thou now believe me?

MADAN.

No.

GUENDOLEN.

I bore A brave man when I bore thee.

MADAN.

I desire No more of laud or leasing. Hath my sire Wronged thee?

GUENDOLEN.

Never. But wilt thou trust me now?

MADAN.

As trustful am I, mother of mine, as thou.

_Enter_ LOCRINE.

LOCRINE.

The gods be good to thee! How farest thou?

GUENDOLEN.

Well. Heaven hath no power to hurt me more: and hell No fire to fear. The world I dwelt in died With my dead father. King, thy world is wide Wherein thy soul rejoicingly puts trust: But mine is strait, and built by death of dust.

LOCRINE.

Thy sire, mine uncle, stood the sole man, then, That held thy life up happy? Guendolen, Hast thou nor child nor husband—or are we Worth no remembrance more at all of thee?

GUENDOLEN.

Thy speech is sweet; thine eyes are flowers that shine: If ever siren bare a son, Locrine, To reign in some green island and bear sway On shores more shining than the front of day And cliffs whose brightness dulls the morning’s brow, That son of sorceries and of seas art thou.

LOCRINE.

Nay, now thy tongue it is that plays on men; And yet no siren’s honey, Guendolen, Is this fair speech, though soft as breathes the south, Which thus I kiss to silence on thy mouth.

GUENDOLEN.

Thy soul is softer than this boy’s of thine: His heart is all toward battle. Was it mine That put such fire in his? for none that heard Thy flatteries—nay, I take not back the word— A flattering lover lives my loving lord— Could guess thine hand so great with spear or sword.

LOCRINE.

What have I done for thee to mock with praise And make the boy’s eyes widen? All my days Are worth not all a week, if war be all, Of his that loved no bloodless festival— Thy sire, and sire of slaughters: this was one Who craved no more of comfort from the sun But light to lighten him toward battle: I Love no such life as bids men kill or die.

GUENDOLEN.

Wert thou not woman more in word than act, Then unrevenged thy brother Albanact Had given his blood to guard his realm and thine: But he that slew him found thy stroke, Locrine, Strong as thy speech is gentle.

LOCRINE.

God assoil The dead our friends and foes!

GUENDOLEN.

A goodly spoil Was that thine hand made then by Humber’s banks Of all who swelled the Scythian’s riotous ranks With storm of inland surf and surge of steel: None there were left, if tongues ring true, to feel The yoke of days that breathe submissive breath More bitter than the bitterest edge of death.

LOCRINE.

None.

GUENDOLEN.

This was then a day of blood. I heard, But know not whence I caught the wandering word, Strange women were there of that outland crew, Whom ruthlessly thy soldiers ravening slew.

LOCRINE.

Nay, Scythians then had we been, worse than they.

GUENDOLEN.

These that were taken, then, thou didst not slay?

LOCRINE.

I did not say we spared them.

GUENDOLEN.

Slay nor spare?

LOCRINE.

How if they were not?

GUENDOLEN.

What albeit they were? Small hurt, meseems, my husband, had it been Though British hands had haled a Scythian queen— If such were found—some woman foul and fierce— To death—or aught we hold for shame’s sake worse.

LOCRINE.

For shame’s own sake the hand that should not fear To take such monstrous work upon it here, And did not wither from the wrist, should be Hewn off ere hanging. Wolves or men are we, That thou shouldst question this?

GUENDOLEN.

Not wolves, but men, Surely: for beasts are loyal.

LOCRINE.

Guendolen, What irks thee?

GUENDOLEN.

Nought save grief and love; Locrine, A grievous love, a loving grief is mine. Here stands my husband: there my father lies: I know not if there live in either’s eyes More love, more life of comfort. This our son Loves me: but is there else left living one That loves me back as I love?

LOCRINE.

Nay, but how Has this wild question fired thine heart?

GUENDOLEN.

Not thou! No part have I—nay, never had I part— Our child that hears me knows it—in thine heart. Thy sire it was that bade our hands be one For love of mine, his brother: thou, his son, Didst give not—no—but yield thy hand to mine, To mine thy lips—not thee to me, Locrine. Thy heart has dwelt far off me all these years; Yet have I never sought with smiles or tears To lure or melt it meward. I have borne— I that have borne to thee this boy—thy scorn, Thy gentleness, thy tender words that bite More deep than shame would, shouldst thou spurn or smite These limbs and lips made thine by contract—made No wife’s, no queen’s—a servant’s—nay, thy shade. The shadow am I, my lord and king, of thee, Who art spirit and substance, body and soul to me. And now,—nay, speak not—now my sire is dead Thou think’st to cast me crownless from thy bed Wherein I brought thee forth a son that now Shall perish with me, if thou wilt—and thou Shalt live and laugh to think of us—or yet Play faith more foul—play falser, and forget.

LOCRINE.

Sharp grief has crazed thy brain. Thou knowest of me—

GUENDOLEN.

I know that nought I know, Locrine, of thee.

LOCRINE.

What bids thee then revile me, knowing no cause?

GUENDOLEN.

Strong sorrow knows but sorrow’s lawless laws.

LOCRINE.

Yet these should turn not grief to raging fire.

GUENDOLEN.

They should not, had my heart my heart’s desire.

LOCRINE.

Would God that love, my queen, could give thee this!

GUENDOLEN.

Thou dost not call me wife—nor call’st amiss.

LOCRINE.

What name should serve to stay this fitful strife?

GUENDOLEN.

Thou dost not ill to call me not thy wife.

LOCRINE.

My sister wellnigh wast thou once: and now—

GUENDOLEN.

Thy sister never I: my brother thou.

LOCRINE.

How shall man sound this riddle? Read it me.

GUENDOLEN.

As loves a sister, never loved I thee.

LOCRINE.

Not when we played as twinborn child with child?

GUENDOLEN.

If then thou thought’st it, both were sore beguiled.

LOCRINE.

I thought thee sweeter then than summer doves.

GUENDOLEN.

Yet not like theirs—woe worth it!—were our loves.

LOCRINE.

No—for they meet and flit again apart.

GUENDOLEN.

And we live linked, inseparate—heart in heart.

LOCRINE.

Is this the grief that wrings and vexes thine?

GUENDOLEN.

Thy mother laughed when thou wast born, Locrine.

LOCRINE.

Did she not well? sweet laughter speaks not scorn.

GUENDOLEN.

And thou didst laugh, and wept’st not, to be born.

LOCRINE.

Did I then ill? didst thou, then, weep to be?

GUENDOLEN.

The same star lit not thee to birth and me.

LOCRINE.

Thine eyes took light, then, from the fairer star.

GUENDOLEN.

Nay; thine was nigh the sun, and mine afar.

LOCRINE.

Too bright was thine to need the neighbouring sun.

GUENDOLEN.

Nay, all its life of light was wellnigh done.

LOCRINE.

If all on thee its light and life were shed And darkness on thy birthday struck it dead, It died most happy, leaving life and light More fair and full in loves more thankful sight.

GUENDOLEN.

Art thou so thankful, king, for love’s kind sake? Would I were worthier thanks like these I take! For thanks I cannot render thee again.

LOCRINE.

Too heavy sits thy sorrow, Guendolen, Upon thy spirit of life: I bid thee not Take comfort while the fire of grief is hot Still at thine heart, and scarce thy last keen tear Dried: yet the gods have left thee comfort here.

GUENDOLEN.

Comfort? In thee, fair cousin—or my son?

LOCRINE.

What hast thou done, Madan, or left undone? Toward thee and me thy mother’s mood to-day Seems less than loving.

MADAN.

Sire, I cannot say.

LOCRINE.

Enough: an hour or half an hour is more Than wrangling words should stuff with barren store. Comfort may’st thou bring to her, if I may none, When all her father quickens in her son. In Cornish warfare if thou win thee praise, Thine shall men liken to thy grandsire’s days.

GUENDOLEN.

To Cornwall must he fare and fight for thee?

LOCRINE.

If heart be his—and if thy will it be.

GUENDOLEN.

What is my will worth more than wind or foam?

LOCRINE.

Why, leave is thine to hold him here at home.

GUENDOLEN.

What power is mine to speed him or to stay?

LOCRINE.

None—should thy child cast love and shame away.

GUENDOLEN.

Most duteous wast thou to thy sire—and mine.

LOCRINE.

Yea, truly—when their bidding sealed me thine.

GUENDOLEN.

Thy smile is as a flame that plays and flits.

LOCRINE.

Yet at my heart thou knowest what fire there sits.

GUENDOLEN.

Not love’s—not love’s—toward me love burns not there.

LOCRINE.

What wouldst thou have me search therein and swear?

GUENDOLEN.

Swear by the faith none seeking there may find—

LOCRINE.

Then—by the faith that lives not in thy kind—

GUENDOLEN.

Ay—women’s faith is water. Then, by men’s—

LOCRINE.

Yea—by Locrine’s, and not by Guendolen’s—

GUENDOLEN.

Swear thou didst never love me more than now.

LOCRINE.

I swear it—not when first we kissed. And thou?

GUENDOLEN.

I cannot give thee back thine oath again.

LOCRINE.

If now love wane within thee, lived it then?

GUENDOLEN.

I said not that it waned. I would not swear—

LOCRINE.

That it was ever more than shadows were?

GUENDOLEN.

—Thy faith and heart were aught but shadow and fire.

LOCRINE.

But thou, meseems, hast loved—thy son and sire.

GUENDOLEN.

And not my lord: I cross and thwart him still.

LOCRINE.

Thy grief it is that wounds me—not thy will.

GUENDOLEN.

Wound? if I would, could I forsooth wound thee?

LOCRINE.

I think thou wouldst not, though thine hands were free.

GUENDOLEN.

These hands, now bound in wedlock fast to thine?

LOCRINE.

Yet were thine heart not then dislinked from mine.

GUENDOLEN.

Nay, life nor death, nor love whose child is hate, May sunder hearts made one but once by fate. Wrath may come down as fire between them—life May bid them yearn for death as man for wife— Grief bid them stoop as son to father—shame Brand them, and memory turn their pulse to flame— Or falsehood change their blood to poisoned wine— Yet all shall rend them not in twain, Locrine.

LOCRINE.

Who knows not this? but rather would I know What thought distempers and distunes thy woe. I came to wed my grief awhile to thine For love’s sake and for comfort’s—

GUENDOLEN.

Thou, Locrine? Today thou knowest not, nor wilt learn tomorrow, The secret sense of such a word as sorrow. Thy spirit is soft and sweet: I well believe Thou wouldst, but well I know thou canst not grieve. The tears like fire, the fire that burns up tears, The blind wild woe that seals up eyes and ears, The sound of raging silence in the brain That utters things unutterable for pain, The thirst at heart that cries on death for ease, What knows thy soul’s live sense of pangs like these?

LOCRINE.

Is no love left thee then for comfort?

GUENDOLEN.

Thine?

LOCRINE.

Thy son’s may serve thee, though thou mock at mine.

GUENDOLEN.

Ay—when he comes again from Cornwall.

LOCRINE.

Nay; If now his absence irk thee, bid him stay.

GUENDOLEN.

I will not—yea, I would not, though I might. Go, child: God guard and grace thine hand in fight!

MADAN.

My heart shall give it grace to guard my head.

LOCRINE.

Well thought, my son: but scarce of thee well said.

MADAN.

No skill of speech have I: words said or sung Help me no more than hand is helped of tongue: Yet, would some better wit than mine, I wis, Help mine, I fain would render thanks for this.

GUENDOLEN.

Think not the boy I bare thee too much mine, Though slack of speech and halting: I divine Thou shalt not find him faint of heart or hand, Come what may come against him.

LOCRINE.

Nay, this land Bears not alive, nor bare it ere we came, Such bloodless hearts as know not fame from shame, Or quail for hope’s sake, or more faithless fear, From truth of single-sighted manhood, here Born and bred up to read the word aright That sunders man from beast as day from night. That red rank Ireland where men burn and slay Girls, old men, children, mothers, sires, and say These wolves and swine that skulk and strike do well, As soon might know sweet heaven from ravenous hell.

GUENDOLEN.

Ay: no such coward as crawls and licks the dust Till blood thence licked may slake his murderous lust And leave his tongue the suppler shall be bred, I think, in Britain ever—if the dead May witness for the living. Though my son Go forth among strange tribes to battle, none Here shall he meet within our circling seas So much more vile than vilest men as these. And though the folk be fierce that harbour there As once the Scythians driven before thee were, And though some Cornish water change its name As Humber then for furtherance of thy fame, And take some dead man’s on it—some dead king’s Slain of our son’s hand—and its watersprings Wax red and radiant from such fire of fight And swell as high with blood of hosts in flight— No fiercer foe nor worthier shall he meet Than then fell grovelling at his father’s feet. Nor, though the day run red with blood of men As that whose hours rang round thy praises then, Shall thy son’s hand be deeper dipped therein Than his that gat him—and that held it sin To spill strange blood of barbarous women—wives Or harlots—things of monstrous names and lives— Fit spoil for swords of harsher-hearted folk; Nor yet, though some that dared and ‘scaped the stroke Be fair as beasts are beauteous,—fit to make False hearts of fools bow down for love’s foul sake, And burn up faith to ashes—shall my son Forsake his father’s ways for such an one As whom thy soldiers slew or slew not—thou Hast no remembrance of them left thee now. Even therefore may we stand assured of this: What lip soever lure his lip to kiss, Past question—else were he nor mine nor thine— This boy would spurn a Scythian concubine.

LOCRINE.

Such peril scarce may cross or charm our son, Though fairer women earth or heaven sees none Than those whose breath makes mild our wild south-west Where now he fares not forth on amorous quest.

GUENDOLEN.

Wilt thou not bless him going, and bid him speed?

LOCRINE.

So be it: yet surely not in word but deed Lives all the soul of blessing or of ban Or wrought or won by manhood’s might for man. The gods be gracious to thee, boy, and give Thy wish its will!

MADAN.

So shall they, if I live.

[_Exeunt_.