Chapter 40

1ST BARON. Take heed unto thy queen, Lord Ganelun, Unless thou willingly dost sacrifice Her to my pawns, as Mark gave Queen Iseult Unto his lepers!

GANELUN. Wait! for see, I move My bishop back.

2D BARON. Check! Dinas, check and mate! Thou mad'st it easy, friend. Thou never shouldst Have sacrificed the knight, for thus my rook Escaped, attacking thee.

DINAS. Forgive; my thoughts Were troubled, ay, and wandered from the game.

[Two knights come in from the courtyard.]

1ST KNIGHT. I cannot make one ray of sense from all These strange occurrences, my Lords! I greet Thee, Ganelun!

[Shakes hands with the Barons.]

2D KNIGHT (shaking hands). At chess! At chess my Lords! Your blood must run full slowly in your veins!

[Comes forward.]

GANELUN. King Mark has bid us play, and order'd wine For us to drink, since otherwise 'twould be A dull and sombre evening here tonight Within the castle hall, for Queen Iseult, I ween, will stay in her retirement.

1ST KNIGHT. King Mark bade us come hither too.

UGRIN. "Oh God! Men! Men! Bring lights and let me see the face Of human beings 'round about!" So cried My cousin Mark not half an hour agone, As one on whom the mirth of loneliness Falls all too heavily!

2D BARON. What think ye, Lords, Of this most wondrous thing?

2D KNIGHT. And do ye know That Kaad, King Mark's old stable groom, beheld St. George leap from the battlement where wall And rock drop off an hundred fathom sheer?

[The Barons stand up and crowd about him.]

1ST BARON. St. George?

GANELUN. What's that thou say'st?

DINAS. Dost thou know more?

2D KNIGHT. I know but what old Kaad himself recounts; That, as he led Mark's charger down to drink, There suddenly appeared before his eyes The lofty shape of good St. George, erect, Upon the wall!

1ST BARON (crossing himself). God save my soul!

2D BARON. And then? What happened then?

2D KNIGHT. Kaad thought at first He was some mortal man and cried to him To heed; but in that selfsame moment leapt The holy knight, and cleared the wall, and fell The hundred fathoms. But when Kaad ran up, With all the speed he might unto the spot, St. George had vanished and had left no trace.

1ST BARON. No trace?

2D BARON. 'Tis strange!

DINAS. A wondrous thing!

GANELUN. But say, By what did Kaad first recognize the saint?

2D KNIGHT. I know not, but he says 'twas he; and all The people, are rejoicing at this new And wondrous miracle of good St. George.

1ST KNIGHT. What says King Mark about this miracle, This saving of the Queen by God Himself? Hast seen him, Dinas?

DINAS (returning to the table). Ay, his heart and mind Are heavy and his soul distressed.

2D KNIGHT. And Queen Iseult?

1ST KNIGHT. What said the King of her?

GANELUN. The King Refused to see her, or to speak with her, Since neither dares to speak of this foul deed Which has occurred; its memory still throbs, And tingling flows throughout their blood.

2D BARON. And yet He sent the Queen, and without message too, The head that pledged a perjured oath today, Upon a silver shield. And well he did.

2D KNIGHT. My Lord Denovalin a victim fell Unto a saintly and a holy hand, But died ingloriously!

DINAS. As he deserved So died he. Sir.

[The Barons and Knights sit down again at the table. King MARK, unnoticed by the others, comes slowly down the steps, and walks about. He is oppressed and agitated. At length he stops, and, leaning against the end post of the bannister, listens to the conversation of the others.]

1ST KNIGHT. A leper has been stoned Because he cried throughout Lubin that 'twas The devil who had done the thing.

DINAS. Such leaps By God or devil can alone be done.

GANELUN. 'Tis true, my Lords, no mortal man can spring An hundred fathoms.

[Mark steps up to the table and lays his arm about Dinas' neck.]