ACT I

SCENE: _A hall in the castle of Charilus on the heights of Kidmir. The open rear, through which is seen a sunset sky, leads to a parapet overlooking the city of Avesta and the coast of Suli. Entrances right and left of parapet. Midway down, right, the door to a chamber._

_Charilus stands on parapet and looks down toward Avesta. Barca waits within the hall._

_Char._ O, sea-washed city, must the hail of fire Crimson thy milky walls, and salt winds strive In vain to sweeten ditches dark with blood From thy tapped heart? Come, Barca, be my eyes, Who climbs the heights?

[_Barca advances and looks over_]

_Barca._ Lords Vigard and Biondel Are on the pass.

_Char._ My sons so soon returned! No other?

_Barca._ Farther down, my lord, I see The knight, Sir Vairdelan.

_Char._ Then we shall hear His sunset song.

_Barca._ The stairway through the cliff Is closed. Shall I give signal, sir, to hoist The upper gate?

_Char._ That is my charge henceforth. [_Going left_] They will be hungered. [_Turns to Barca_] Scant the board in nothing. [_Exit left_]

[_Gaina enters, right, rear, carrying a tray piled with candles_]

_Gaina._ Thank goodness, Barca, you're where you're wanted for once! Help me with these winkers. [_Giving him candles_] My mistress kept me out on the cliffs when I ought to 'a' been inside an hour ago doing my honest work. I got her in at last, but I had to be round with her, poor soul! I told her what!

_Barca._ [_Placing candles_] She was watching for her brothers?

_Gaina._ [_Puts tray down_] Brothers! It was a sight of that singing knight she wanted. He went down the pass this morning and she has gone about all day like a bird with a sore throat.

_Barca._ God gave her eyes, and Sir Vairdelan is good to see. When I look at him I feel somehow as if the sun were just up and everybody had another chance.

_Gaina._ A man who lets his sword rust at home while he goes about tootle-de-rooling on a flute! And she could be the princess of Avesta if she'd look in the right place. Well, if she had _my_ eyes!

_Barca._ What! You would have your mistress marry Banissat? An unbeliever?

_Gaina._ A prince is a prince,--and I'd say the same if my mistress were my own daughter.

_Barca._ And you a Christian!

_Gaina._ A Christian of Corinth, I'd have you know. There are Christians and Christians, please you! And for my mistress, dear heart, it would take more than marrying a prince to send her to--to----

_Barca._ Let it out.

_Gaina._ Hell, then,--if you want to bite ginger. And who but Banissat can stand between her father and that English Oswald--who is just plain devil and not an Englishman at all----

_Barca._ Devil? A knight of the Cross leading the army of the Lord to Jerusalem.

_Gaina._ Nobody but the devil, I tell you! And I wouldn't speak to him if I met him walking with Saint Peter, unless he showed me his bare feet with ten good toes on 'em. It might be all right for Peter, but a woman can't be too careful, and the master took me out of a good family in Corinth. And this Vairdelan who is no more a knight than I'm a lady--the next time he goes down the pass he will lose his way up again, or my head's a goose-egg, that's all!

_Barca._ Gently, Gaina. You were young once.

_Gaina._ Once? I've more hairs than wrinkles yet, which some can't say and tell the truth!

_Barca._ Tongue in! Here's the master. [_Moves right_]

_Gaina._ My candles!

[_Seizes tray and goes out, right, as Charilus re-enters left_]

_Char._ [_To Barca_] Look to the supper. [_Exit Barca, right. Charilus crosses to parapet and looks down_] Doubt-blown city, rest. Sleep on my heart. You shall not bleed for me.

[_Enter Ardia from chamber midway right_]

_Ard._ Alone, my father?

_Char._ Never alone, and yet My wish was calling thee. [_Sits, and draws her beside him_]

_Ard._ Ah, not one guard About thee?

_Char._ The only guard is always near,-- A fearless heart.

_Ard._ Then I have none. My heart Is made of fears.

_Char._ No charm but love will lift Our gates of rock.

_Ard._ But who knows love from hate In days like these? Some foe with friendship's eyes, Some secret knife of Oswald's----

_Char._ None may tread The guarded pass save our knight Vairdelan And your two brothers.

_Ard._ Vairdelan is late. Why went he down?

_Char._ Knights true as he, my girl, Are never questioned.

_Ard._ [_Starting_] Who are at the gates?

_Char._ Your brothers come.

_Ard._ So soon? That means good news From Banissat. He'll be your strength against This mighty Oswald.

_Char._ Fair his word may be, But I go down the pass.

_Ard._ Go down? To meet That fiend?

_Char._ The man who calls himself my foe, But named of God my brother.

_Ard._ O, too much Thou lovest love! A fiend, I say!

_Char._ That name Give unto me when I consent to piece This spun-out life with breath of babes and gasp Of dying mothers. Would you feed these veins, Gelid and old, all golden venture done, With the warm waste of youth whose savèd stream Might bear mankind unto the port of gods?

_Ard._ But you--you are my father!

_Char._ It is such cries Unsettle justice till her shaken scales Weigh nations 'gainst a heart.

_Ard._ Must I not love you?

_Char._ My Ardia, fair as though thou wert not mine, Or wert all hers who made gray Corinth young, The love that feeds behind a sheltered door Must be unroofed and take its bread of stars Ere it may answer to its holy name. The heart must build no walls----

_Ard._ I build them not, But find them risen about me. You are here, Guardful and best, fending my eyes,--there stands My Biondel,--there Vigard brave,--and there....

_Char._ And there, my daughter?

_Ard._ Hark! 'Tis Vairdelan's voice!

[_Singing heard below_]

O fires that build upon the sea Till wave and foam of ye are part, And burn in mated ecstasy, Ye build again within my heart.

O clouds that breathe in flame and run In linkèd dreams along the sky In me the fire is never done, Though Eve's gray hand soon puts ye by.

Christ be my Hand of Eve upon The flame that tireless, fadeless leaps! Haste holily, O Mary's moon, With dew for fire that never sleeps!

[_Ardia keeps a listening attitude, not heeding the entrance of her brothers who come on left_]

_Char._ Well, sons?

_Bion._ Ay, well! That is the word we bring. Avesta's prince, the gracious Banissat, Is now your sworn defender.

_Ard._ [_Turning_] And asks no price?

_Bion._ No more than your fair self, my sister.

_Vig._ [_As Ardia stands silent_] You doubt? 'Tis true. He'll make you princess!

_Ard._ He is old....

_Bion._ What call you old? He's in the fairest top Of manhood.

_Vig._ Old!

_Ard._ And cannot sing....

_Vig._ Not sing!

_Ard._ What need have we of him? Can Oswald scale These rock-barred heights?

_Vig._ Starvation can.

_Ard._ We've food Will last three harvest moons.

_Bion._ And Oswald camps Where plain and sea will feed ten thousand men As many years.

_Vig._ While here our skeletons With bleachèd grin may watch the feast below!

_Ard._ To starve ... is that so terrible? 'Tis but One way of dying.

_Vig._ Dying?

_Char._ Say no more. The morrow's dawn shall light my way to Oswald.

_Bion._ You'll go to him? Then death!

_Vig._ [_To Ardia_] See what you do?

_Ard._ Forgive me. [_Runs to her father and clings to him_] Now! Bind me to Banissat.

_Char._ Nay, thou art free.

_Bion._ [_To Ardia_] Our lives shall thank you.

_Vig._ Thanks? You speak her part.

[_Ardia leaves her father and moves to edge of parapet_]

_Bion._ [_Following her_] Dost know a better way?

_Ard._ I pray you, leave me.

_Vig._ Princess of Avesta!

_Ard._ Your supper waits.

_Vig._ [_Starting right_] Come, brother!

_Char._ Though I've supped, I'll sit with you, my sons. Discourse is ever The best dish at the board.

_Bion._ We thank you, sir.

[_Exeunt Biondel, Vigard, Charilus, right_]

_Ard._ And am I wooed and won? Dreams of a dream, Where are ye now?... A lover with no song. No carols stealing sweetness from the moon; No trembling hand to drop a morning rose Where I may walk. [_Takes a rose from her bosom and casts it away_] No rose.... no Vairdelan!

[_Re-enter Gaina_]

_Gaina._ Here, mistress? Dearie dear, a-weeping?

_Ard._ No.

_Gaina._ Say you were, 'twere a better sight than this fetching of dry sighs. They 'most take the skin of a woe that a little tear-water would bring up easy enough.

_Ard._ O, Gaina, Gaina, did you see my mother buried?

_Gaina._ Ay, 'twas a sweet grave we laid her in over in Corinth. You'll never make as pretty a corpse, my dear.

_Ard._ Was I there?

_Gaina._ Troth, you were, and trouble enough you gave me. You wanted to climb into the coffin and go to sleep too, you said.

_Ard._ O, had you buried me with her I should not have seen this day!

_Gaina._ Most like you wouldn't. Come, honey dove, come to your room and brighten yourself a bit. There's the new veil just begging to be looked at. I'll put it on you, and----

_Ard._ No, I don't want you. [_Going, right_]

_Gaina._ O, ho, I can read his name you do want, and not kill a bird for it either.

_Ard._ [_Turning_] Who, magpie? Who?

_Gaina._ Your eyes may save my tongue if they squint sou'west.

_Ard._ Is he coming?

_Gaina._ Who, my cuckoo? Who?

[_Bertrand enters left. Ardia starts off right_]

_Ber._ Ardia!

_Ard._ [_Weakly, pausing at her door_] Vairdelan....

_Ber._ Will not you stay?

_Ard._ I will return. [_Exit_]

_Ber._ Your mistress is not well?

_Gaina._ You've eyes, sir.

_Ber._ This fear of Oswald----

_Gaina._ Her trouble's nearer home, sir.

_Ber._ Her father----

_Gaina._ Nay, it wears no beard, though it may in time.

_Ber._ What troubles her, dear Gaina?

_Gaina._ A man, my lord.

_Ber._ A man!

_Gaina._ There, don't feel for your sword, for that's at home, and I never heard yet of spitting a man with a flute, though it may e'en go to the heart of a woman if she be young and soft like my mistress.

_Ber._ The truth, Gaina!

_Gaina._ I can spare it, sir. My master's daughter is so in love with you----

_Ber._ Angels do not love!

_Gaina._ That may be. I'm speaking of my mistress, "Magpie!" Not meaning you, sir.

_Ber._ She can not love me!

_Gaina._ That's what I said--at first. A roaming creature with only his cloak for shelter, though it's a good gentleman's weave, I'll allow, and I know you'll go away before her poor heart gets too heavy for carrying. It's nigh that now, and before you came it was so light she was tripping and chirping till I could 'a' sworn she had no heart at all--just toes and wings. And now, dear soul,--but you'll go, sir? You know you'd have to hunt the door soon enough if her brothers got a breath of what's between you.

_Ber._ There's nothing between us!

_Gaina._ A bat could see it by daylight. It's been in your eyes all the time.

_Ber._ I never meant it!

_Gaina._ Shame to you then. You'll go, sir?

_Ber._ Yes, yes, yes!

_Gaina._ Here's my lady. Now don't tell her you're going. Just go.

_Ber._ Just ... go.

_Gaina._ [_At right_] Ay, you've got it.

[_Exit Gaina as Ardia re-enters_]

_Ard._ My brothers are at supper. Will you join them, Or do you fast?

_Ber._ I fast.

_Ard._ A stern religion Is yours, my friend.

_Ber._ I've chosen it. Ardia, You know me for a knight.

_Ard._ [_Softly_] Who wears no sword.

_Ber._ But in the English isle where I was born, I was a monk ... and true. True am I now, Save that my cell is what men call the world.

_Ard._ Spare speech and me. I know the rest.

_Ber._ Your prayers Then be my bond that Christ may search my heart And find no part not his.

_Ard._ No prayer of mine Shall fetter youth to bloodless vows. And you Look not as one faith-leeched of life. Your cheek Is sudden gray, not changeless pale. 'Tis hued Like rebel morning pushing back a dawn Too eager for its peace. A monk. Our ways Part as our souls. Know you I am to wed Prince Banissat? So dumb? My father comes! [_Meets Charilus re-entering and leads him to a seat_] Our guest was telling me of English days. Now you change tongue with him and speak the tale You promised yester night. Why does this Oswald, This war-mad lord of England, on his way To free the holy tomb, forget his path And turn his army's strength against a man No greater than thyself?

_Char._ Yes, you shall know.

_Ard._ At last!

_Char._ For morning parts us.

_Ard._ Oh! Not that!

_Ber._ Shall I go in, my lord?

_Char._ Nay, Vairdelan. I'd have thee hear. Thou thinkest me a man Of holy heart.

_Ard._ Ah, who does not?

_Char._ There's one Has cause for doubt. 'Twas I who slew in rage Earl Oswald's father.

_Ard._ You? These hands?

_Char._ These hands.

_Ber._ I've heard 'twas so.

_Ard._ You've heard?

_Char._ 'Tis thirty years Since Oswald, with his father, John of Clyffe, Marched in Red Giles' crusade. You know of that?

_Ber._ My grandsire captained there.

_Char._ I served not Christ, At least as they, with pillage, fire and rape. But there were some among the English youths Who took my heart, and Oswald was my choice Of all who camped before the holy gates.

_Ard._ That man!

_Char._ I, too, was young ... and I was wed. Not to my Ardia's mother, but to her Whose heart yet boldly beats in my two sons. In her strange beauty John of Clyffe found death. He sought her, and I slew him. When his blood Ran at my feet, I fled,--not from the swords Hot on my path, but from that stream of blood.

_Ard._ Dear, dear my father! 'Twas a world ago!

_Char._ I was not of the many who can kill And laugh again, nor yet of hermit-heart. But for myself had made a gentle god Whom my soul served.

_Ber._ I know, my lord, that sweet Idolatry, and dream what thou didst suffer So shaken from it.

_Char._ Far as man knows the world I fled the scarlet stream that followed me, And on the skyward slope of Himalay, Between the white of snows and blue of heaven, Saw it no more.

_Ard._ [_Kissing his hands_] O, white, forgiven hands!

_Char._ There, near to God as man may come nor lose The body's mould, I saw in solvent thought That knows not time, a sinless star,--this earth That shall be. Back unto my world I came, And that my dream might live I lived my dream, Servant to love even where the slaves of hate Whet sword and knife.

_Ard._ O, true!

_Ber._ 'Tis sung of thee!

_Char._ Now am I old, but love does not deny me One service more. To-morrow I shall go To die at Oswald's feet----

_Ber._ [_Eagerly_] You will go down?

_Ard._ No, no! He shall not go! Prince Banissat Will save him! He has promised!

_Ber._ [_Gazing at Ardia_] Banissat? So 'twas a bargain. Thou'rt fair goods to be On th' vender's table. [_Turns to Charilus_] You choose well, my lord.

_Ard._ What words!

_Ber._ I bring a message from th' earl.

_Ard._ From Oswald? [_Shrinking_] You know him?

_Ber._ If any man May know him,--but I better know his son.

_Ard._ The vicious Bertrand?

_Ber._ Vicious?

_Ard._ O, so foul He shuns the day, and walks on moonless nights Most like his soul!

_Ber._ You speak of Bertrand?

_Ard._ Ay! More wolfish than his father,--beast whose sword Should be his body's part as tigers wear Their claws from birth!

_Ber._ A bold delusion this!

_Char._ She speaks untempered rumor. Slander, sir, Is out of breath with sporting Bertrand's name, And giveth way to winds that blow it past Belief's last border.

_Ard._ Slander?

_Ber._ What will shake These fancies from your heart?

_Ard._ A miracle. Naught less.

_Ber._ Hard terms. [_Turns to Charilus_] I know this Bertrand well. If any happy merit in myself Has won your love, bestow the same on him. What I may share is his.

_Char._ Here's living hope!

_Ber._ He, like myself, was cloister-bred, and passed Peaceful, uncounted days until the death Of his three brothers, slain in one mad hour. Earl Oswald then bethought him of the son So early given to Christ. "I have no heir," He said, "but God lacks not for monks." And straight With power and gold bought full release for Bertrand, Save that release his soul and God might give.

_Char._ You make me love his story.

_Ber._ True to peace Even in the camp of war, he lives withdrawn, And so gives Rumor sweep for what she would, While in her swollen report the earl conceals His monkish son's true nature.

_Char._ I'll know this youth!

_Ber._ He keeps his tent by day, and steals at night To forest glens, his armor but a cloak, His sword a flute----

_Ard._ O, light from Heaven!

_Ber._ Sometimes He farther goes, even far as Kidmir heights, And at the feet of Charilus he learns A love more true than fane and cloister taught,-- The love that made the houseless, barefoot Christ, With open breast to all unbrothered woe,-- And now he kneels and of that gentlest love Asks pardon.

_Char._ Bertrand, son of Oswald, rise. There's no forgiving in the sinless star.

_Ber._ [_Rising, to Ardia_] And you?

_Ard._ Ah ... when I've breath!

_Ber._ What I have said, My lord, makes way for what is yet to say. To-day I waited by Avesta's gate For this [_taking out paper_] my father's word, response to mine Sent days ago to him. Here, sir, he says: [_Reads_]

"Son of my hope, your words are not more strange to me than these I write with my own hand. If Charilus will come to Suli Castle, the which my swords have taken while you sang and slept, my door shall open to him as Kidmir gates have opened unto you. By Christ, I swear the treatment that he gave my blood he shall have again from me. But if he come not down, then shall I reach him through Avesta's heart, and the love he now spurns will be cold in my sword. Despatch this, I pray you, for I would hasten to Jerusalem, leaving you my conquered princedom, whose head is Ilon and whose foot is the city of Ramoor. Thine as thy heart speaks, Oswald."

_Char._ Your father's hand?

_Ber._ Doubt flies from it, although The vein is alien, sir. It is his hand. And, I do think, his heart, wherein, my lord, Your gentleness to me, like creeping rain, Has moistened love's dry root, whose pent-up bloom Is by that nurture freed, and magical Now glows before us.

_Char._ This I would believe. [_Starts off right_] Vigard and Biondel must have this news From my slow lips, lest with the sudden truth They strike ablaze. They have their mother's fire. Albanian Gartha was not one to die And leave her sons no part in her wild race. [_Exit_]

_Ber._ You are not Gartha's daughter?

_Ard._ No, my lord. Claris of Corinth bore me, and my flame Is joy, not anger. O, this miracle You've wrought for me!

_Ber._ I wrought?

_Ard._ 'Tis no less strange When God through his bare tool reveals his hand, Than when invisible his power stirs And makes a chasm in sense. So when you stood Before me, Bertrand's self, with yet the voice, The eyes, the heart of Vairdelan, I knew That was my miracle. O Heaven-sign At which my world grew blithe and shook May-boughs With birds in every branch!

_Ber._ You've no more fear For Charilus?

_Ard._ None, none. Nor for myself.

_Ber._ Yourself?

_Ard._ O, seems no soul need trouble now In this vast world!

[_Re-enter Charilus and sons_]

_Bion._ You are not Vairdelan?

_Vig._ You're Bertrand, Oswald's son?

_Ber._ 'Tis true.

_Vig._ That truth Should cut your throat, and I could lend my sword For such a matter.

_Bion._ Come! What knightly plea Coats this deceit with honor?

_Ber._ None, my lord. If I've made trespass deeper than your love Will bear me out, my hope is in your pardon.

_Bion._ A lie made you our guest, and guest you are Until we meet on Suli plain.

_Char._ My son!

_Ard._ Call you that pardon, Biondel?

_Bion._ I speak No pardon.

_Ard._ But you shall--you must. O, say it! You know our father goes to Oswald.

_Vig._ Know That fools and women talk! The gates are sealed.

_Bion._ I'll guard the pass against my father's self If so much rudeness may make stand between His death and life.

_Char._ My sons, I thank your love, But I go down. The guards, the gates are mine, And to my will they open.

_Vig._ 'Tis that girl, That silvery Greek----

_Char._ If your quick blood must stir, Let manners grace it.

_Ard._ O, my dearest brothers, Do you not love me?

_Bion._ Better than you know. We love you, serve you, though yourself obstruct The way to safety.

_Vig._ You would trust the man Who wrapped him in a lie to enter here? Sat at our father's board and brake his bread To feed an enemy?

_Ber._ The bread I brake Fed friendship's heart in me, and made this roof A temple. Do you not know me, Vigard?

_Vig._ Nay, I knew a Vairdelan--you are not he.

_Bion._ If Oswald means no harm to Charilus, Let him pass on. Jerusalem awaits His savage sword.

_Char._ My son, that Oswald thus Compels me to him is to me but proof That hearts may greet above long years of hate. In this I see Love beckoning Man across The wastrel lands of war to fields unwet With blood, to days----

_Vig._ Unhearted cowards then! Praise Allah, we yet live where rapiers thresh The fields of men and leave the bravest standing! Is 't not the Prophet's word that Paradise Lies 'neath the shade of swords?

_Char._ Allah be yours! But I would walk beneath unrisen stars, Beyond hate's eyeless clouds----

_Bion._ O, spare us, sir! Each day brings its own sun, and by that light, No other, men must walk. If this our time Be dark to you, 'tis in your vision, not In the lit heavens, from whose shoreless depth No hook of prayer or prophecy may draw One star before its hour. Pray you be done With this moon madness. Banissat will meet The force of Oswald. With the morn he comes To seal his troth with Ardia----

_Char._ By no word Of mine. If you have given him pledge, your honor Shall dip to dust and drudge your forfeit out, Ere virgin bondage pay it. Hark, Biondel, And hear me, Vigard! I alone shall meet Earl Oswald. If the blood I shed yet cries For blood, here are the veins shall make it dumb.

_Bion._ But, sir,----

_Char._ No more. Your sister stays with you. Regard her will, nor ope these doors unbidden To Banissat.

_Ard._ I stay? O, never think I shall not go with thee!

_Char._ You go?

_Ard._ I'm safe With thee, my father. Here....

_Vig._ Here you have brothers!

_Ard._ I mean no slight upon you, but my fate Keeps with my father.

_Char._ I should doubt the God Who bids me go if I denied you this. Thyself art Peace, and where thou goest moves Her radiance. Make you ready. And good-night, all! Sir Bertrand, know the sleep that fits the heart For journeying. [_Exit right, rear_]

_Vig._ [_To Ardia_] There's one will stop your way-- Prince Banissat!

_Bion._ We'll send him word this hour, For while the edge be on his sudden love He'll thank us to be swift.

_Ber._ You loved me once, My lords.

_Bion._ True, son of Oswald.

_Ber._ Though you used Some bitter words, I know your inmost heart Holds me a man undoubted. There I'm stamped In honor's verity; and when I vow, By my soul's faith, that Charilus is safe, You know 'tis truth.

_Bion._ Be you our father's hostage, If this mad thing must be. Stay you with us, And we are silent.

_Ard._ Stay? You ask too much.

_Vig._ No fear, soft sister. Mark him. We're refused. He'll stuff the air with words, not clear it with One pinch of proof.

_Ber._ My lords, were I to stay, 'Twould make an act of faith lose point and purpose, And blazon doubt before my father's face.

_Vig._ You mark?

_Ber._ 'Twould louder cry of war; uproot Love's seedling in its tenderest hour, and make Once more the bane and night-weed spring. But hear An oath of mine. If Charilus meet harm In Oswald's camp, I shall return and ask The same stroke from your hands.

_Ard._ O, do not swear!

_Ber._ By every hope I have to enter Heaven, By the right hand of God, by this white cross That knew my mother's last, death-holy kiss, By every sacred thing I know and love, If Charilus comes up these heights no more, Here shall I lay my life beneath your sword.

[_Barca re-enters right_]

_Barca._ [_To Bertrand_] The master asks a word with you, my lord.

[_Exit Bertrand with Barca_]

_Ard._ Will you accept his oath?

_Vig._ Go to your room.

_Bion._ We'll talk alone.

_Ard._ Nay, hear me first. You think To force me to the arms of Banissat. Give over that wild thought.

_Bion._ 'Twas not so wild An hour ago.

_Ard._ Fate lifts the hand that laid Compulsion on me. I am free. O, free! No strait of life or death can make me less Than mistress of myself.

_Bion._ Our destiny Is bound with Banissat. Make him our foe, And where shall we find peace? Not on these peaks.

_Ard._ Is he our jailer then? This Banissat? Our prison his good favor? Nay, the world Has many roads, and courage even yet May blaze a new one.

_Bion._ Rooted life is best. I am not one to make my bed on winds, Or stroll the earth for fortune's grudgèd scraps Snatched from a rapier's point.

_Ard._ Know this. My hand Shall never lie in Banissat's. Give up A hope so barren. There's better pasturage For wits so bold as yours. Now Oswald holds The breadth of Suli plain, the heights of Tor, Winged by the sea from Ilon to Ramoor-- A principality whose circuit leaves Avesta as a fly pinned to a wall.

_Vig._ What's Oswald's fief to us? We are no sons of his.

_Ard._ Lord Bertrand holds the princedom here While Oswald goes to wars in Palestine.

_Bion._ He told you this?

_Ard._ Did you not read as much In Oswald's letter? There 'twas plainly said.

_Bion._ Still is our surest hope with Banissat.

_Ard._ When Bertram! is your friend? O, more than friend! A brother!

_Bion._ Ah ... do you say "brother"?

_Ard._ True As though he had been born our father's son!

_Bion._ [_To Vigard_] You hear?

_Vig._ With more than ears.

_Bion._ We have been blind.

_Vig._ A brother!

_Bion._ All is clear enough, now that We've eyes for it. Your pardon, sister.

_Ard._ Pardon?

_Bion._ Pray you! We thought your scorn of Banissat Marked you of creeping spirit, when your aim Shot o'er our lowered eyes.

_Vig._ Ay, she has sped Before our boldest care of her, and left Our duty lurching.

_Ard._ These are drunken words.

_Vig._ If you would wed Lord Bertrand,----

_Ard._ O, you think....

_Bion._ Your hope has shown its wing. Best bid it fly.

_Vig._ Speak without fear. This changes all.

_Ard._ You mean You'll not delay us? You will let us go?

_Vig._ And speed you too! High stroke, this anxious hour To journey in his care!

_Bion._ Yet shielded by Our father's dignity.

_Ard._ How you mistake! He does not woo me!

_Vig._ Now the modest foot! But we have seen the other. Trust us, sister.

_Bion._ Mistake? I now recall his looks, his sighs, As from a love immured,--his songs, too warm For piety's cool breath,--and more that tends To happy proof.

_Vig._ How dare he woo thee when Mere Vairdelan? This blade had stood between!

_Bion._ Such beggar suit would then have cheapened thee Beneath a prince's wearing. [_Leading her to door, right_] No drooping now! The way lies clear.

_Ard._ O, brother----

_Bion._ Get you in.

_Ard._ Will you not listen?

_Bion._ Leave your hope with us, Your secret is our own. [_Closes door upon her_]

_Vig._ Here's change of sky. You trust Lord Bertrand?

_Bion._ That is now our course. Our father will go down.

_Vig._ What's in your heart? I'll open mine.

_Bion._ I beg you do.

_Vig._ Ramoor And Ilon now are crownless. Suli's prince Must have new governors.

_Bion._ But Christian ones. That bars our way.

_Vig._ The Prophet's cloak fits well With any fortune.

_Bion._ Ah....

_Vig._ We've but to change The color, not the cut.

_Bion._ [_Listening_] He comes!

_Vig._ We'll speak.

_Bion._ Not yet, my Vigard. Let this fruiting hope Swell to a golden fall. Wait with the sun. No green and forward plucking.

[_Re-enter Ardia_]

_Ard._ Hear me, brothers----

_Bion._ Not now. The prince!

[_Re-enter Bertrand, right_]

_Ber._ I pray your answer, friends. Let us go down unhindered, and my oath I leave with you, a hostage sure as though With iron bonds you held my breathing form: For in that oath I leave no treasure less Than honor, knighthood, and what in me moves Deathless to God.

_Bion._ It is enough. Our guest Is free.

_Ber._ Once more my brothers!

_Bion._ Know us ever By that dear name.

_Vig._ And this deep oath you take For Charilus' sake, is sworn too for our sister?

_Ber._ For Ardia? No, my lord.

_Vig._ Do you say no?

_Ber._ I must so answer you. For the fell harm That touches her would of myself make end. My honor so impeached would cease to breathe The air itself made foul. I could not come Having no life to bring me.

_Bion._ We believe you. Go with our father. Take our sister too. And we upon these heights shall pray, as you On Suli plain, that Charilus may see His sons again.

_Ber._ Come, let him know! This wished Obedience will give him sleep.

[_Exeunt Bertrand, Vigard, and Biondel, right rear_]

_Ard._ Is 't best That Truth be dumb? I'll watch this weaving Fate, And feed her web with silence.... Oh, with hope!

[_Curtain_]