University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

A Private Apartment in the Palace of the Queen of Connaught. Enter Ainli to the Queen.
AINLI.
Most noble Queen! we come to ask your aid
Against the foul usurper of our throne—
Who perjured his foul soul in sight of Heaven,
By forfeiting his solemn guarantee,
Pledged unto Fergus for our safe return.

QUEEN.
Were you not exiled to the Isle of Skye?

AINLI.
We were, great Queen! where we had stayed, had not
The noble Fergus come to bring us back,
Promising our safe return.

QUEEN.
But you did come—
For you are here.

AINLI.
Came under Conor's oath,
That we should live untramelled on return;
Instead, no sooner had we landed there,
Than troops were sent to tear the Red Branch down,
Or brave Naisa's wife delivered up to him.
They came—we fought—the Red Branch set on fire—
Making the day in night by which we fought—
Leaving his troops by thousands dead on field!

QUEEN.
Where are your brothers now?

AINLI.
Waiting for my
Return, to make another onslaught on
The remnant who now guard the Lion's Den.

QUEEN.
But where is Conor?

AINLI.
Housed at home—the fiend
Mustering his Myrmidons to strike new death
Into the heart of glorious Liberty,
Waiting with anxious expectation now
At Eman for his final overthrow.

QUEEN.
This hope achieved, who is to be your King?

AINLI.
Naisa, Son of Usna.

QUEEN.
None more fit.
Who of Naisa's troops were slain?

AINLI.
Brave souls;
Illan the Fair was one.

QUEEN.
Is Illan dead?

AINLI.
Illan the Fair is dead! his righteous soul
Ascending into Heaven through the great wound
Made in his heart by Conal Carnach's sword!

QUEEN.
By Conal Carnach's sword? Why, they were friends!

AINLI.
True friends—one by the other slain!

QUEEN.
Alas!

AINLI.
Upon his heaving body, prone on earth,
It sate awhile, doubting to fly, or not,
As on Christ's shoulder sat the Holy Ghost,
Sounding the Bath Kol of the opening Heavens!
When, like some snow-white Dove, frightened from earth,
From the green pyramid of some tall Pine,
Now prostrate on the earth, blown down by storms,
Never to sprout again—so soared his soul—
His God-like soul—out of his body there,
Exultant in the embrace of the Heavens;
While Ministering Angels, clothed in robes of fire,
Came pressing downward through the opening Gates,
Ready to convey him, with shouts, to God!

QUEEN.
If no one else had died, your loss had been,
Indeed, irreparable!

AINLI.
Truly so—
It cannot be repaired; for he was one
Who had no brother in this world.

QUEEN.
Yes, yes—
Buini was his brother. Where is he?

AINLI.
Dead! gone to Hell, where all such traitors go!
Drowned in the District changed into a Sea,
Which Conor gave him for his treachery—
Drowned on the very night he gave it him,
By God's Almighty wrath, sent down from Heaven!
Caffa the Druid naming it Buini's Moor—
Thus to be called through all eternity!

QUEEN.
Most righteous Heaven! an awful doom indeed!
What do you wish?

AINLI.
The aid of all your troops,
Until the tyrant reaps his just reward,
When we will seat Naisa on the throne.

QUEEN.
But what will you repay me for this aid?

AINLI.
My hand—in whose soft palm my gracious heart
Lies panting with celestial joy to know
That you cannot refuse the proffered boon;
But, by the interchange, reap mutual joys.

QUEEN.
But you bestow unasked.

AINLI.
The only gift
Worth having; real gifts are thus bestowed—
All others being false—or given for gain.
True love is always given unasked—because,
It being the Image of God's love in Heaven,
Flows down just like his bounty—free as rain.
So let mine moisten this immortal flower.

QUEEN.
My troops are thine. My hand—that is mine own,
Which I will give to whom I please—no one
Except the one I love—the one who clasps it now.

AINLI.
Embracing now, clasped in each other's arms,
To emblem our eternal love in Heaven—
Where we shall meet again in marriage after death.

QUEEN.
You echo but the voice of mine own soul.
Thou art my Husband-King!

AINLI.
Thou my Queen-wife!
I cannot magnify my mode of utterance
Into the embrace of my boundless love!

QUEEN.
That you deserve the reverence of the Gods,
With Godlike speech you woo your worshipper.

[Exeunt.