University of Virginia Library

SCENE II.

A Road. Troops upon their march.
Enter Ellisif, Alger, and the Prior.
Ellisif.
Both have done well: ye lost the fight, yet saved
Your credits with the king.

Prior.
My promised bishopric,
I hope too, lady?

Ellisif.
There's no danger of it:
Ye shall stand higher still when I am queen.

Alger.
With deference, there may come a doubt—

Ellisif.
None! none!
If, from brute prejudice 'gainst female sway,
The Wessex crown cannot by law descend,
As it is worded, to the spindle side,
Why then, my charms of person and of power
Shall win young Edmund, or some other sprout
From the root royal, who shall king it under me.
Edmund I trust hath join'd our Cumbrian friends,
And hastes them to our aid: then all were sure!

Alger.
Yes, had not Ethelstan been let live on.

Ellisif.
That was ill luck; I kept him as a poise
To Anlaf, needful after victory,
For 't was but playing one against the other
Could make my game safe. I had good hope too,
Still to have led him blindfold, but some chance
Hath shaken him from his unsuspiciousness.
We cannot scape ill-luck, though we may cure it:
I have a stratagem in store for him
He wots not of, that might redeem it all;
Between my sword and Anlaf's he is slain!

Prior.
And then we use Prince Edmund as the poise,
Or t'other royal sprout—is it not so?

Ellisif.
So. Now let's on, as we agreed, to fill
Our parts allotted in this final scene:
Courage!—risk nought, nought win! We risk but breath—
Mere life, and may win all that makes life glorious!

[Exeunt.