University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

Castle Hall. Tumult heard from without.
The Ladies Margaret and Bertha.
BERTHA.
The gallery casement looks beyond them now—
Not on, but over them.

MARGARET.
Their cries sound nearer.

Enter Sir Humfrey of Uske.
SIR HUMFREY.
We lose the barriers to them.

MARGARET.
Beaten back?

BERTHA.
Lost ground so soon?

SIR HUMFREY.
Keep from the lattice, ladies!
Call down the Countess—we shall need good eyes
To follow where the cross-bow shot have sped.
Some must go home, no doubt, 'twixt rib and rib.

BERTHA.
The barriers lost?

SIR HUMFREY.
We cannot hold them wisely,
So yield them freely. There our loins are bare:
We scarce count one to five.

MARGARET.
Then come within.

SIR HUMFREY.
There will be work for ladies by and by:
Have napkins ready.

MARGARET.
Why not keep inside?

BERTHA.
Counsel my brother so—why not, Sir Humfrey?
I do abhor this shaking of the head!
Come in, and shut the gates.

SIR HUMFREY.
My lord would laugh
Whoe'er might counsel him:—indeed he would,
Yea, though the wisest of our captains willed it,
The lady Bertha stamped her little foot;
Seeing that the vantage ground lies out of doors;
The space being not too wide for those who keep it,
Where twenty knights, at most, may fight in front,
He would bide there. Meanwhile, have wine at hand:
Such heavy work breeds thirst.

MARGARET.
Hast seen the earl?
I pray keep near to him, Sir Humfrey Uske!
Sir Reginald Saint Vallery has promised,
And good Sir Giles. Trust me, I will be grateful:
He is too hot.

BERTHA.
Nay, let him keep behind.
Fitzwalter will not have him for a nurse.
Three gossips are too many. Stand aloof—
Or if he stumble, set him on his legs.
Till then fair play, and afterwards, Sir Humfrey—

SIR HUMFREY.
I would have ten such sisters, if I might;
And one such wife.

BERTHA.
A wife? as which of us?

SIR HUMFREY.
The bravest, surely: which is best and fairest,
The good and fair may better judge than I.
Whate'er betide the Earl, I cannot aid him.
My present charge is in the barbican;
Or else I had not tarried here so long.

(Enter Soldier.)
SOLDIER.
Saint Vallery will be lost! The lord of Builth
Has left to some behind his picking up,
And leaped a rood this side of him.

(Exit Sir Humfrey.)
MARGARET.
Come back;
Grant me one moment with thee, friend.

SOLDIER.
Not now—
My lady must not hold me!—we give way,
So mixed and tangled with the men of Builth,
That Geoffrey may come first.

MARGARET.
Where is the Earl?

SOLDIER.
Even farther from the gate, than some he fights with.
He has Sir Philip de Breos in front of him;
So will not budge one inch—but hinders us—
While he bides there, we cannot lift the bridge,
Nor loose a bolt. Builth stands 'twixt him and us:
No man may face this devil who means to live!

(Cries.)
MARGARET.
Hark! Builth and Brecon!

SOLDIER.
That is Geoffrey's cry!

MARGARET.
Where is it? in the court yard?

SOLDIER.
Here he is—
They all come in together! we are beat
By over-fighting.

[Exit.
MARGARET.
Where were best to hide in?

BERTHA.
I will not hide me any where.

(Enter Barnabas.)
BARNABAS.
I will.
Being lowly-minded anywhere may serve—
The chimney—dust-hole—or the scullery-sink.
This third-part Earl eats up the other two;
So now for peace again. The lord of Builth
May take his earldom from Beelzebub!
I have known many skilled in braining helms,
But none like him.

BERTHA.
Those shouts seem farther off.
Hast seen the Earl?

BARNABAS.
Which of them?

BERTHA.
Hereford.

Enter Countess and Seneschal.
SENESCHAL.
We can bring later news of him—he speeds
As we would pray.

COUNTESS.
Fitzwalter's wife a coward?

BARNABAS.
Ay, and his sister too.

BERTHA.
Who shouted “Builth!
Brecon and Builth?”

MARGARET.
We did believe all lost.

SENESCHAL.
Faith, all was almost lost—we thought as you.
I would have bought a sheep-cot east of Wye
With two or three such earldoms. Geoffrey Builth
Had gained the bridge and second fortilege:
His cry was in the court—awhile he stood
This side the archway!

BERTHA.
Where was Hereford?

SENESCHAL.
At buffets with de Breos. We might have shut
Both factions out of doors, and turned the key,
But could not choose between them.

BERTHA.
Geoffrey Builth!
Did he give ground?

COUNTESS.
Ay, step by step he did.
He reeled, and backed away again. Canst tell
Who smote so furiously on Geoffrey's helm?
First stopped, then turned him? Whosoe'er he be,
He saved the House.

SENESCHAL.
I could not see his badge.

COUNTESS.
His place was ever foremost, or alone:
And still he cried, “Builth—Craven—Runaway!”

SENESCHAL.
He lied, indeed—but Heaven forgive him that.
The lord of Builth has found no match to-day
So near as he.

COUNTESS.
Send some one after him:
Seek him and bring him hither. Sir Philip de Breos!

(Enter Fitzwalter with de Breos.)
FITZWALTER.
This second time he comes against his will:
No wooer by deputy, nor covenant-maker.
He will give ransom measured by his worth,
So gold both handsful. I can rate him best,
Who paid for him with such a deal to do.

DE BREOS.
We lose a busy hour while others work.
The lord of Builth and Brecon brings my ransom:—
He is not far behind us.

SENESCHAL.
He came first;
But could not keep his holding here.

FITZWALTER.
Who says it?
Came first?—is it true?—was Geoffrey here indeed?
I did hear some such rumour 'midst the din—
Who turned him out again?

SENESCHAL.
His footing failed him.
Stunned by so loud a hammering on his ears,
He lost his breath, and staggered forth down hill,
Du Chastel after him.

FITZWALTER.
Good riddance then!
He leaves the bearer of his brains to us,
And is where he began an hour ago,
The farther side the barriers. Boy, bring wine:
The while we live together, we are friends:
I pledge Sir Philp de Breos.

COUNTESS.
Such brains as his,
With only such a hand to wait upon them,
Were short equivalents for what we lose!

FITZWALTER.
What do we lose? how so?

COUNTESS.
Saint Vallery.

FITZWALTER.
Good bye, Sir Reginald Saint Vallery!
I was about to say, with all my heart!
As being the better soldier perhaps, he thrust
Ten times to day 'twixt me and Geoffrey Builth.

MARGARET.
I could forgive him worse despite than that.
No matter which weighs heaviest, buy him back,
For Bertha's sake, whose knight he is.

FITZWALTER.
With what?

MARGARET.
Sir Philip de Breos. The exchange of foes for friends
Is profit every way.

BERTHA.
Let Builth keep both.
Such potent feeders will make short the siege.

FITZWALTER.
I fain would show them both how much I love them.
Sir Philip, go back—and send me home Saint Vallery.
The largest bowl, boy—bear it with de Breos—
Shall Geoffrey say he fought the worse through thirst?
Tell him to drive his followers farther back,
And that he may expect me.
[Exit Sir Philip de Breos with Page.
Now this glove—
The gage he left with us?—last night I saw it—
It was upon my helmet yesterday.
Go, find the armourer, Jaques, and look about.
Walk hither, Seneschal.

[Exit with Seneschal. Enter Ralph, leading in Mahel whose visor is closed.]
RALPH.
Wouldst slip the couples?
Nay, let the ladies look upon and praise thee.
In with thee, Gog Magog, and show thyself.
Prithee, abate this bashfulness! It tasked
My wood-craft to surprise so shy a stag!
Wouldst herd amongst thy fellows out of sight?
Dodge and trot off again?

COUNTESS.
He had no fellows
The last time that I saw him, Pantler Ralph;
Nor fellow nor follower—but went straight and singly.
The only deer were we.

RALPH.
What name dost bear?
Marry—his visor scarce may hide his blushes;
I should not marvel were the iron red hot.
Up with it, simple one. The beaver laced?
Thou canst not raise it?

MARGARET.
Peace! a trumpet—hark!

(Trumpet.)
COUNTESS.
Then Geoffrey sends his challenge to the gate.
I scarce may spare the leisure now for thanks—
But whom dost serve?

MAHEL.
My lady, if she please—
A houseless frankling since my father's death,
So poor withal, I have lacked bread of late,
Yet faithful nevertheless.

COUNTESS.
I trust and take thee.
Some that began my soldiers now wear spurs.

RALPH.
Down with thee, Gideon.

MAHEL,
kneeling.
I am all too base
For honor, lady. On a head like mine
If fallen, it could not settle. I would ask
A better-sorted boon instead of it.

COUNTESS.
What is it?—speak quick!

MAHEL.
Fair thoughts in time to come.
Since honest service seems not always such,
Till I transgress of malice let me hold
A large forgiveness, cleansing all offence;
That so my duty may begin anew
Both free and pure.

COUNTESS.
Well prayed! I promise it.
Come with me, Ralph.

[Exit.
MARGARET.
My mother spake the first:
I must not share these services to come:
The past are mine, as well, for recompense.
Fain would I crave the present hour between!
One hour which wastes its moments while I speak
Might purchase for thee honor, which would last
As long as life, or longer—house and lands,
With what thou wilt to boot. Darest do again
That which thou hast done freely once to-day?
Darest face this Lord of Builth a second time?
May Heaven forgive me, coward and thief!—I stole
His gauntlet from the helm of Hereford—
And now would hire the risk of cheaper blood!
But darest thou do it freely?

MAHEL.
I have dared
A worse thing than his face.

MARGARET.
What was it?

MAHEL.
Shame!
All things are light and easy after that!
Give me Builth's gage.

MARGARET.
Run to the barriers with it—
Be thou before Fitzwalter there! Yet stay,
If thou hast wife and children—God forgive me!
'Bide here, and let it lie!

BERTHA.
He may forgive;
Fitzwalter never will.

MAHEL.
Is pride as great
As mercy—which is infinite? If so
I dare not ask this proud man's sister aught—
Yet would I have her prayers.

BERTHA.
I need them all—
All are by much too little for my need.
What wouldst thou have that I may give beside?

MAHEL.
A knight would ask what such as I must not.
And yet it seems ill-suited where it is;
Ill-sized, ill-placed; so loose, it twice has fallen—
The ring I see.

BERTHA.
The ring?—fallen twice, didst say?
I knew not that I dropped or picked it up.
Wouldst have the ring? A knight might not have asked it:
Thou being no knight—because no knight, shalt have it.
The swine-herd has its fellow-ring—I gave
The swine-herd that, and this I give to thee.

(Exeunt.)