University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

—Chamber of the Countess.
Enter Christina and the Countess's Maid.
Chris.
My mistress marry Huon?

Maid.
Even so!
Now hand in hand with him before the priest;
Unless the knot be tied already—said
The blessing and amen.

Chris.
No bridemaid?

Maid.
Yes,
My lady.

Chris.
What! the Countess! bridemaid she
To Catherine that was before a serf!
Yet she was ever fond of Catherine.

Maid.
You should have seen them both as forth they went,
Like two sweet sisters for the altar veil'd.

Chris.
A sudden marriage this!

Maid.
And lonely, too;
None but the principals admitted—friends
Nor attendants!

Chris.
It is strange! Well. Huon gets
A wealthy wife—a freewoman, to boot;
And, sooth to say, a worthy husband, she—
Ay, were she better still—for many a prince
Looks not his rank so well as Huon would,
Were he one. Softly—they return—yes.

Maid.
No;
My mistress comes alone. How slow she moves!

Enter the Countess faint; her Maid runs to support her.
Countess.
Help to unveil me, girl. I cannot lift
My hand to my head—and I want air! Remove
My veil. There! Now I breathe!—A minute only,
And all the world seems changed. Is this my room?
Art thou my waiting-maid?—Am I myself?
Where is my father?

Maid.
In his chamber, lady.
He is complaining.

Countess.
He is very old.
His life spun out into a very film.
I did not gainsay him! Thank Heaven for that!
I would that I could go to him, but sooth
My limbs have done their best to bring me hither.
I am next to dead; almost dissolved to nothing.
Is that Christina? Girl, what do you here?
Home with all haste; your mistress there before you
Waits your assistance with most instant need.

Chris.
It is all wonder.

Countess.
Art thou gone?

Chris.
I am!

[Curtsies and goes out.
Count Ulrick enters.
Ulrick.
Madam!

Countess.
Count Ulrick, is it you? I am glad
To see you, sir; my father told me, or
I dreamt it, he design'd to take you, sir,
Into his service. If 'tis so, I'm glad of it.

Ulrick.
I grieve to think my office was a brief one!

Countess.
Your office was a brief one!—Speak!—alas!
When silence is a substitute for speech,
The heart must be o'er full of joy or pain!
Enough. I read your errand-in your looks—
I am an orphan.

Ulrick.
Madam, 'twas a debt
Long due to nature.

Countess.
Still, sir, we must grieve
To see it paid. At what a time to leave me!
I cannot pay him half his due of sorrow.
My heart is spent—benumb'd! this shaft of Fate
Lights on a corpse!—a corpse! Alas, my father!

[Weeps.
[A pause—Enter Attendant, hastily.
Atten.
Madam!

Ulrick.
Keep silence! Do not interrupt
The sacred flow of sorrow for the dead.

Countess.
No; let him speak; there's matter in his looks.

Atten.
The banquet, as you order'd, is prepared,
But neither bride nor bridegroom can be found.

Countess.
You mean the bride cannot be found!

Atten.
Nor yet
The bridegroom.

Countess.
Search for him, and you will find him—
Must find him!
[Attendant goes out.
What a cross! at what a time!
When all my thoughts should be with him that's gone!
My father! I adored my father, sir:
Indeed, I did!

Ulrick.
Then let me now fulfil
His last behest, whereof the substance this,
In full recorded here—which he enjoin'd
You should be instantly possess'd of—proof
Of his most fatherly regard and care.
Of those who seek your hand you must make choice
Of one to share the labours of the dukedom,
Or else abide the issue of the lists—
Your suitors summon'd to a tournament—
When he who rests the victor wins your hand.

Countess.
I am content! I'll do my father's will,
And bide the issue of the tournament,
Or choose myself the man shall take my hand.

Ulrick.
Jointly the Empress and myself are named
Executors, to give the will effect.

Countess.
It was not needed. It had been respected
Without o'erlooking, how much less enforcement!
My brain and heart are here and there! I haven't
The use of them. Stop! [Thinks]
Some one told me now
Of something—What was it?

Ulrick.
One said the serf—

Countess.
Call him that name again!—Whom speak'st thou of?
Huon?

Atten.
[Entering.]
This letter is from Huon, madam.
Mounted upon a steed, your father's gift,
He threw it me, and fled.

Countess.
[Reading.]
“Eternally
“Farewell—Your will is done—I use my freedom.
“Fortune my mistress hence—the richest boon
“She can award me, death!—Once more, farewell!”
O rashness most perverse and ruinous!
Let them pursue him; and provide them with
The fleetest of the stud, and gold beside,
For new relays. If they o'ertake him—if?—
They must!—'Tis an affair of life or death!
They must not quit him, but return with him—

Atten.
The bride—

Countess.
No heed of her. Bring Huon back
By fair means or by foul—persuasion vain,
Let them resort to force—but not to harm
A hair of his head. So be their numbers such
As makes resistance idle. They are sure
To track him, so they lose not time—and see
They do not! If they waste a moment only.
They answer for't. Stay, sir; a purse of gold
To every one of them—of gold, you mark—
So that they bring him back; and one for you
In like event. A minute hence, observe,
I look into the court-yard, and expect
To see them in their saddles, and away!
Upon their lives I charge them bring him back!

[They go out.