University of Virginia Library

SCENE II

Scene: A copse. Eadric waits by the path, and through the trees Arlette is seen approaching. She walks slowly and reaches him in silence.
EADRIC.
The wood is white with your paleness, sweet Arlette.

ARLETTE.
Accusing cares flock round my joy this day.
I dared not think or speak the name of Eadric.
Love that is secret hath remorse for friend.

EADRIC.
My sweet Arlette, from sunny France you came
To these bleak hills, black woods, and skies forlorn.
My rose, more beautiful than the shining sun,
If you should go away, how should I live?

ARLETTE.
I could not leave thee though they bore me hence,
And, under fathoms of ground, laid me to sleep.
My home is in thine heart and there I'll rest,
As some small seagull nestling on the sea,
Floats o'er the agitations of each tide
With confident peace.

EADRIC.
O, my sole joy on earth,
Flower too silken, too delicate and white
For my rough hold, how I do worship thee!
Yet, I'll not call thee angel lest thou change
By that rash word into the phantom beauty
I may adore but never quite possess.
In wrath I lived here, heartsick, sorrowing,
Thrall to one constant thought which was a hate
Against thy race. My murdered kinsmen stood
With dreadful wounds entreating swift revenge
For injuries dire.

ARLETTE.
Beloved, say no more.
You look so sternly toward me, I could weep.

EADRIC.
Dear love, I feel ashamed at thy pure face.
It is a milky pearl set in the air
To make my blackness seem the more corrupt.
Yet, when I turn aside, my eyelids ache,
And I would seek once more humiliation
Given with a recompense that's infinite!

[Kneels at her feet.
ARLETTE.
[Looking away from him.]
Around the pallid south, stars pierce the twilight.
Dear, I must go. But yes—Ursyne is waiting.
I trust her well. She is an intercessor
Who hath compassion for fidelity.
She once did love a great lord who is dead.
She does not speak of him: his name I know not.
Often I sit close by her while she thinks.
Companions in our silence, we have watched
The blaze of many fires and heard the logs
Sing their shrill song while the hot flames consumed them.
“Ah,” said she once, “a woman would die thus!”

EADRIC.
I doubt a sorrow when it mutters words
Too wise. Witches do that.

ARLETTE.
She is no witch!
Swiftly I'll go and beg her influence.
Get you to prayer, then wait upon my uncle

EADRIC.
But he shall hear defiance, not entreaties.

ARLETTE.
Thou art a Saxon—free—the son of kings,
And when thou call'st, I follow, not rebellious,
But conquered by the pride of my own choice.
Be sure that Norman love is as thine own ...

EADRIC.
Eternal!

[They embrace; she leaves him. He watches her till she is out of sight, then follows at a distance.