Classic Poem

SCENE VI. — Another Chamber in Dunley Tower .

Lady M ERVYN and B LANCHE .

Lady M ER . Poor child, your eyes are heavy, you must sleep
Go, Blanche, I'd rather be alone: 'Tis fitting
I watch alone this one last night for him,
Since he must die to-morrow — as they tell us.
Would I were with him!
B LANCHE . Wake me, then, if aught
Alarm you in the night.
Lady M ER . They hold us here
By violent constraint. Whate'er they mean
Of further mischief, this they cannot do, —
They cannot turn my heart from Wold: Those hills
Round us, whose spurs are in the central fire,
Are not so steadfast as my virgin heart
Is to my own good lord. When he is gone,
For him I'll sit a widow all my days,
My few remaining days. Good-night, sweet Blanche!
Such is this life of ours: a glimmering light,
Seen through the ribs of Death!

Enter L ORD D UNLEY .

What would you, Sir?
D UN . Fear me not, cousin
Lady M ER . Cousin? dare you use
That kindred name? Be it so, then! O be
My kinsman still! I pray you, by the blood
That flows betwixt us, let me forth, and straight,
To see my lord — my own betrothed husband!
He's under doom of death; and every law,
Divine and human, calls on me to see him
In his last hours. You dare not say me, No.
D UN . I've loved you more than life, more even than honour,
Else had you not been here against the rules
Of knighthood; but I've ta'en you, kept you, keep you,
Rather than let you wed the hated Wold —
Hateful to all our house, hated by me
With a specific hatred. What! shall he
Marry where I have loved and cannot marry?
I'll burn you with myself in my Tower first.
No, you shan't forth to-night. I let you forth
To kneel to that proud Dame! Even if I did,
You'd never see her face. Do you imagine
Wold's obdurate gates would turn on their harsh hinges
To Mervyn's tears? Content thee. When noon's past,
And Wold's last son's a lifeless thing, I'll crave
Upon my knees your pardon for all this,
And set you wholly free.

Lady M ER . Ha! hear you that?
D UN . It must be Wold!
Lady M ER . And he in prison? Ay,
And doomed to death? Villain, you mean me wrong,
Joining fraud thus to force? That voice! 'tis he!
You're quailing now! Come quickly, good Lord Wold!
Z EBRA and P HILIP DE V ALMA rush in on the one side, and B LANCHE on the other .
D UN . What is't?
Z EB . Wold.
D UN . Guard the Tower. Myself will meet him
Down i' the camp. Mark: — Come he on
To take our Keep, I'm slain, avenge me,
By letting not this maid ever be his:
Whate'er you do, make sure for me in this:
Swear, Zebra.
Z EB . I do swear.
D UN . Guard the gate, then.
Lady M ER . What see you, child?
B LANCHE ( looking out ). Tumults confused of men
Fighting this way and that, driven through the light
And through the darkness: what a stormy drift
Of hurrying shapes!
Lady M ER . ( looking out too ) But where's the Lord of Wold?
He's here for me! O look!
B LANCHE . Yes, yes, 'tis he!
How he makes way! What a majestic power!
Lady M ER . My own true lord!
B LANCHE . Ah! he has disappeared.
Lady M ER . He's at the gate! His men are at his back!
What should we do? I fear that villain Zebra,
Sworn o'er our lives. How near the tumult comes!
Let's venture forth. What think you? Isn't it best?
We may slip through. Could we but get beneath
Wold's arm, we're safe. Let's try. We'll muffle us up.