A swallow on the battlements to-day
Fell from the hawk: you soothed and set it free.
This, then, you would not—!
Fell from the hawk: you soothed and set it free.
This, then, you would not—!
Vittia. Yes.
Yolanda. You cannot!
Vittia. Yes.
Yolanda (wrung for a moment then calm).
I had forgotten, you are of Venice—Venice
Whose burdening is vast upon this land.
Good-night.
Yolanda. More I loathe
That love of him has led your thought so low.
[Is going.
Vittia. Stay! If you leave and do not choose at once—
[Sounds are heard at the gates.
Who's that?... (starts). Amaury?... You've expected him?
[The chains fall.
Your purpose, then! Is it now to renounce
And force him from you or to have me breathe
To Renier Lusignan the one word
That will transmute his wrong to madness?
Say it! For centuries have stained these walls
But never a wife; never—
And force him from you or to have me breathe
To Renier Lusignan the one word
That will transmute his wrong to madness?
Say it! For centuries have stained these walls
But never a wife; never—
Enter Berengere.
Yolanda. Mother?...
[Looks from one to the other.
Yolanda. He comes here, mother?
Berengere. At once.
Yolanda (in dread). Ah!
Berengere. Child?...
Vittia (to Yolanda). To-night
Must be the end.
Yolanda. Go, go.
Berengere (as Vittia passes out). What thing is this?
Yolanda. Mother, I cannot have him—here—Amaury!
Defer him but a little—till to-morrow.
I cannot see him now.
Berengere. This is o'erstrange.
Yolanda. Help me to think. Go to him, go, and say
Some woman thing—that I am ill—that I
Am at confession—penance—that—Ah, say
But anything!
Yolanda. Say.... No use.
Too late.
Berengere. His step?
Yolanda. Oh, unmistakable;
Along the corridor. Go!
[The curtains are thrown back.
Amaury (at the threshold). My Yolanda!
[Hastens down and takes her, passive, in his arms. Berengere goes.
My, my Yolanda!...
[Kisses her.
To touch you is as triumph to the blood,
Is as the boon of battle to the strong!
Is as the boon of battle to the strong!
Yolanda. Amaury, no; release me and say why
You come: The Saracens—?
Amaury. Not of them now!
[Bends back her head.
But of some tribute incense to this beauty,
Dear as the wind wafts from undying shrines
Of mystery and myrrh!
I'd have the eloquence of quickened moons
Pouring upon the midnight magicly,
To say all I have yearned,
Now, with your head pillowed upon my breast!
Slow sullen speech, come to my soldier lips,
Rough with command, and impotent of softness!
Come to my lips! or fill so full my eyes
That the unutterable shall seem as sweet
To my Yolanda. But ... how, how now? tears?
Dear as the wind wafts from undying shrines
Of mystery and myrrh!
I'd have the eloquence of quickened moons
Pouring upon the midnight magicly,
To say all I have yearned,
Now, with your head pillowed upon my breast!
Slow sullen speech, come to my soldier lips,
Rough with command, and impotent of softness!
Come to my lips! or fill so full my eyes
That the unutterable shall seem as sweet
To my Yolanda. But ... how, how now? tears?
[Lifts her face.
Yolanda. Amaury——
Amaury. What have I done? Too pronely pressed
You to this coat of steel?
Yolanda. No, no.
Amaury. My words,
Or silence, then?
Yolanda. Amaury, no, but sweet,
Sweet as the roses of Damascus crusht,
Your silence is! and sweeter than the dream
Of April nightingale on Troados,
Or gushing by the springs of Chitria,
Your every word of love! Yet—yet—ah, fold me,
Within your arms oblivion and hold me,
Fast to your being press me, and there bless me
With breathèd power of your manhood's might.
Amaury!...
Amaury. This I cannot understand.
Yolanda (freeing herself). Nothing—a folly—groundless frailty.
Amaury. You've been again at some old tale of sorrow,
[Goes to the lectern.
Pining along the pages of a book—
This, telling of that Italy madonna
Whose days were sad—I have forgotten how.
Is it not so?
This, telling of that Italy madonna
Whose days were sad—I have forgotten how.
Is it not so?
Yolanda. No, no. The tears of women
Come as the air and sighing of the night,
We know not whence or why.
Yolanda. Yet now forget them.
Amaury. It will not leave my heart that somehow—how
I cannot fathom—Camarin——
Yolanda (lightly, to stop him). No farther!
Amaury. That Camarin of Paphos is their cause.—
Tell me——
Yolanda. Yes, that I love thee!
Amaury. Tell me——
Yolanda. Love thee!
As sea the sky! and as the sky the wind!
And as the wind the forest! As the forest—
What does the forest love, Amaury? I
Can think of nothing!
Amaury. Tell me then you have
Never a moment of you yielded to him,
That never he has touched too long this hand—
Till evermore he must, even as I—
Nor once into your eyes too deep has gazed!
You falter? darken?
Yolanda. Would he ne'er had come
Into these halls! that it were beautiful,
Holy to hate him as the Lost can hate.
Amaury. But 'tis not?
Yolanda. God shall judge him.
Amaury. And not you?
Yolanda. Though he is weak, there is within him—
Amaury. That
Which women trust? and you?
[Berengere enters. He turns to her.
Mother?
Berengere. A runner,
A soldier of your troop within the forts
Has come with word.
Amaury (starting). Mother!
Berengere. It is ill news?
I've seen that battle-light in you before.
'Tis of the Saracens? you ride to-night
Into their peril?
Amaury. Come, the word, the word!
Berengere. Only this token.
Amaury. The spur? the spur? (Takes it.) They then
Are landing!
Yolanda. How, Amaury; tell your meaning!
Amaury. The galleys of the Saracens have found
Anchor and land to-night near Keryneia.
My troops are ready and await me—
So I must speed.
Yolanda (with strange terror). I pray you, do not go.
Amaury. Yolanda!
Yolanda. If I am left alone—!
Amaury. Yolanda!
Yolanda (sinking to a seat). I meant it not—a breath of fear—forget—
And go.
[He kisses her and hurries off.... A silence.
Berengere. Yolanda——
Yolanda. Mother, I will go to sleep.
[She rises.
Berengere. A change has come to you—a difference
Drawn as a veil between us.
Drawn as a veil between us.
Yolanda. I am weary.
Berengere. You love me?
Yolanda. As, O mother, I love him,
With love impregnable to every ill,
As Paradise is.
Berengere. Then—
Yolanda. I pray, no more.
To-night I am flooded with a deeper tide
Than yet has flowed into my life—and through it
Sounds premonition: so I must have calm.
[She embraces Berengere; goes slowly up steps and off.
[Thinks a moment, then takes the crucifix from her neck.
Had Renier but come, perhaps I might ...
[Lays it on table.
O were I dead this sinning would awake me!...
And yet I care not (dully).... No, I will forget.
And yet I care not (dully).... No, I will forget.
[Goes firmly from door to door and looks out each. Then lifts, unnoting, the cross-shaped candlestick; and waving it at the loggia, turns holding it before her.
Soon he will come up from the cool, and touch
Away my weakness with mad tenderness.
Soon he will.... Ah!
Away my weakness with mad tenderness.
Soon he will.... Ah!
[Has seen with terror the candlestick's structure.
[Lets it fall.
Mercy of God, move in me!... Sacrilege!
[Sinks feebly to the divan, and bows, overcome.
Camarin (appearing after a pause on the loggia).
My Berengere, a moment, and I come!
My Berengere, a moment, and I come!
[Enters, locking the grating behind him. Then he hurries down and leans to lift her face.
Berengere. No, no! nor ever, ever again, for ever!
[Shrinks.
Go from me and behind leave no farewell....
Camarin. This is—illusion. In the dew I've waited,
And the night's song of you is in my brain—
A song that seems——
Berengere. Withhold from words. At last
Fate is begun! See, with the cross it was
I waved you hither. Leave me—let me pass
Out of this sin—and to repentance—after.
Camarin. I cannot, cannot!
Berengere. Pity, then, my fear.
This moment were it known would end with murder,
Or did it not, dishonour still would kill!
Leave, leave.
Camarin. To-morrow, then; but not to-night!
[He goes behind and puts his arms around her.
Give me thy being once again, thy beauty.
For it I'm mad as bacchanals for wine.
For it I'm mad as bacchanals for wine.
[Yolanda, entering on the balcony, hears, and would retreat, but sees Renier come to the grating.
Once more be to me all that woman may!
Let us again take rapture wings and rise
Up to our world of love, guilt would unsphere.
Let us live over days that passed as streams
Limpid by lotus-banks unto the sea,
O'er all the whispered nights that we have clasped
Knowing the heights and all the deeps of passion!
But speak, and we shall be amid the stars.
Let us again take rapture wings and rise
Up to our world of love, guilt would unsphere.
Let us live over days that passed as streams
Limpid by lotus-banks unto the sea,
O'er all the whispered nights that we have clasped
Knowing the heights and all the deeps of passion!
But speak, and we shall be amid the stars.
[Renier draws a dagger and leaves the grating. With a low cry Yolanda staggers down: the Two rise, fearful.
Berengere. Yolanda!
Yolanda. Mother, mother!... Ah, his eyes!
Berengere. What brings you here—to spy upon me?
Yolanda. Listen!...
Think not of me—no, hush—but of the peril
Arisen up.... Your husband!
Camarin. Renier?
Yolanda. Was at that grating—heard. And from its sheath
Drew forth a dagger!—Ah!
Berengere (weakly). What does she say?
Yolanda. Find calmness now, and some expedient.
[She struggles to think.
Berengere. I cannot die.
Berengere. My flesh is weak,
Is poor of courage—poverished by guilt,
As all my soul is! But, Yolanda, you—!
Yolanda. Yes, something must be done—something be done.
[Camarin goes to the curtains and returns.
Berengere. The shame ... the shame ... the shame!
Yolanda. There yet is time.
Berengere. You can deliver! you are innocent.
Yolanda. Perhaps. Let me but think.—He came——
Berengere. You see?
There is escape? a way from it?
Yolanda. Perhaps.
He came after your words ... yes ... could not see
Here in the dimness ... but has only heard
Sir Camarin....
Berengere. I do not know!
Yolanda. Go, in ...
Up to your chamber and be as asleep.
There is a way—I think—dim, but a way.
Go to your chamber; for there yet may be
Prevention!
Berengere. I—yes, yes.
Yolanda. There is a way.
[Berengere goes.
Strength now to walk it! strength unfaltering.
Camarin. What do you purpose?
Yolanda. Here to take her place,
Here at the lowest of her destiny.
Camarin. I do not understand.
Yolanda. But wholly shall.
Clasp me within your arms; he must believe
'Tis I and not his wife you have unhallowed,
Your arms about me, though they burn! and breathe me
Thirst of unbounded love as unto her.
[He clasps her, and they wait.
Ah, it is he!
Yolanda. Yes, the words; at once!
Camarin (hoarsely). With all my body and soul-breath I love you,
[Renier enters with Moro.
And all this night is ours for ecstasy.
Kiss me with quenchless kisses, and embrace
Me with your beauty, till——
Kiss me with quenchless kisses, and embrace
Me with your beauty, till——
[Yolanda with a cry, as of fear, looses herself, pretending to discover Renier, who is struck rigid.
Moro. My lord, my lord!...
It is Yolanda.
It is Yolanda.
Renier. Then—
[The dagger falls from him.
Why, then—Amaury!
[Yolanda, realising, stunned, sinks back to the divan.
Curtain
ACT II
Several Days Have Elapsed
Scene: The forecourt of the castle, beyond which is the garden and in the distance the mountains, under the deep tropical blue of morning. On the right the wall enclosing the castle grounds runs back and is lost in the foliage of cypress, palm, orange; it is pierced by an arched gate with lifted portcullis. On the left rises the dark front of the castle, its arabesqued doorway open. Across the rear a low arcaded screen of masonry, with an entrance to the right, separates the court from the garden. Before it a fountain, guarded by a statue of a Knight of St. John, falls into a porphyry basin. By the castle door, to the front, and elsewhere, are stone seats. Hassan is standing moodily by the screen, left, looking out the portcullis. He starts, hearing steps, and as the old leach Tremitus enters, motions him silently into the castle; then muttering "the old blood-letter," stands as before, while Civa, Maga, and Mauria are heard in the garden, and enter gaily bearing water-jars to the fountain. Civa sees his look and breaks into a twitting laughter. The other two join her.
Civa. Look at him! Maga! Mauria! behold!
Was ever sight so sweet upon the world?
Is he not very Joy?
Was ever sight so sweet upon the world?
Is he not very Joy?
Mauria (critically). Now, is he not?
With the price of vinegar upon his face.
[All laugh.
The price of vinegar! who'll buy!—Not I!
Not I! Not I! Not I!
Not I! Not I! Not I!
Hassan. Wench.
Civa. Verily!
And not a man! he has discovered it!
You're not a man, Mauria! we were duped.
[Mauria slaps her playfully.
But see him now—a mummy of the Nile!
Who died of choler!
Who died of choler!
Mauria. Then, a care, he'll bite.
He's been in the grave a long while and he's hungry.
A barley-loaf, quick, Maga!
Civa. To appease him!
But s-sh! beware! there's something of import.
[They stop in mock awe before him.
What does he think of?
Mauria. Sphinxes and the spheres.
Civa. Or little ants and gnats that buzz about him.
Mauria. And how to make them smart for sauciness.
Civa. Or of Alessa!
Maga. No, no, Civa! come;
Enough of teasing.
Civa. Of Alessa!
Maga. No.
Your pitcher, come. He's troubled by the tale
Of lady Yolanda——
And waits for lord Amaury from the battle.
[Hassan starts at her tone.
For lord Amaury! does he so indeed?
Hassan. What do you know? Be silent.
Civa. Ho!
Hassan. Itch! would
You have lady Yolanda hear? She comes
Now, as she has this morning thrice, to ask.
[Yolanda appears on the threshold with Alessa.
Lord Renier ... remember, if she learns!
[Civa flouts him, but goes to the fountain. The others follow, fill their jars, and, singing, return to the garden. Yolanda then crosses to Hassan, who waits evasive.
Yolanda. My want is still the same—words are unneeded.
Hassan. To know of lord Amaury?
Hassan (loathly). I have not seen him.
Yolanda. Nor heard?
Hassan. Nothing.
Yolanda. I cannot understand.
[Goes to the gate, troubled.
Hassan (low). Liar that I am to say it!
Yolanda. I cannot—cannot!
[Returns.
The Saracens we know were routed to
Their vessels—all the Allah-crying horde.
And lord Amaury—said the courier not?——
Rode in the battle as a seraph might
To the Holy Sepulchre's deliverance.
And yet no word from him.
Their vessels—all the Allah-crying horde.
And lord Amaury—said the courier not?——
Rode in the battle as a seraph might
To the Holy Sepulchre's deliverance.
And yet no word from him.
Hassan. Perhaps—with reason.
[She looks at him quickly—he flushes.
With reason! ... knowing, lady, what, here, now,
Is rumoured of a baron
And lady Yolanda!... Pardon!
Is rumoured of a baron
And lady Yolanda!... Pardon!
Yolanda (slowly). Of a baron
And lady Yolanda.
Hassan. Yes: it is the women
Who with their ears ever at secrecy
Rumour it. But, lady, it is a lie?
This Camarin, this prinker,
Whose purse is daily loose to us.... I curse him!
His father.... Well, my mother's ten years dead,
Stained, as you know—
And flower-lips breathe innocent above her.
But I'll avenge her doom.
Yolanda. On—whom?
Hassan (points castlewards). On him!
So you, who do not hush this tale of you,
Though it is truthless—hear:
I have a stab for Camarin of Paphos
Whenever he has lived—but say!—too long.
[Quells him.
Pity alone we owe to sin not blame.
And they who love may stray, it seems, beyond
All justice of our judging.—
Is evil mad enchantment come upon
The portals of this castle?
And they who love may stray, it seems, beyond
All justice of our judging.—
Is evil mad enchantment come upon
The portals of this castle?
Hassan. I would serve you.
Yolanda. With murder? no. But if you would indeed,
As oft you have——
Hassan. Lady, I will.
Yolanda. Then watch
The Venetian, and when Amaury comes
Find me at once. What sound was that?... A bugle?
It is! it is! Alessa! (Overjoyed.) Do you hear?
His troop! Amaury's! O the silver chime!
Again I breathe, I breathe!
My heart as a bird of May!
Amaury!... Come! we'll go to him! we'll go!
Before any within Lusignan—!
Alessa. Lady!
Yolanda. At once! it rings again! again! we'll go!
Alessa. And tell him?
Yolanda. Warn! Warn him a fever's here
That he must fend his ear from. 'Twill suffice.
And I again shall see him, hear him speak,
Hang on his battle-story blessedly!
And you, Hassan.... But why do you stand stone?
You know something.... He's dead!
Hassan. No, lady, no.
Yolanda. Not? ah! ... then what? 'Twas not his trumpet?
Hassan (after a struggle). No.
And I will lie to you no longer;
Though for obedience it be or life;
And at lord Renier's command.... It is
Not true that lord Amaury from the battle
Has not returned.
Yolanda. But he—you mean—is here?
[Stands motionless.
Hassan. He came ... on yesterday ... at dusk. Was led
Up to his chamber....
So much lord Renier who slipt him in
Revealed, that I might guile you.
Up to his chamber....
So much lord Renier who slipt him in
Revealed, that I might guile you.
Alessa (sharply). And you have?
Hassan. Yes.
Alessa. Though you boasted love to me?
Hassan. Now, woman!
Alessa. Lady, I would have wed him—wed this toad!
[Stingingly.
Who'd kill the Paphian, too!
Hassan. Yes!
Alessa. Worm! with dust?
Heeling away from him?
[Alessa turns to her.