Locrine - A Tragedy [10]
say
I love thee not? Hark! see, my sire for sign!
I hear his horse.
ESTRILD.
He comes!
SABRINA.
He comes today!
[Exeunt
SCENE II.--Troynovant. A Room in the Palace.
Enter GUENDOLEN and CAMBER.
GUENDOLEN.
I know not, sir, what ails you to desire
Such audience of me as I give.
CAMBER.
What ails
Me, sister? Were the heart in me no higher
Than his who heeds no more than harpers' tales
Such griefs as set a sister's heart on fire -
GUENDOLEN.
Then were my brother now at rest in Wales,
And royal.
CAMBER.
Am I less than royal here?
GUENDOLEN.
Even here as there alike, sir.
CAMBER.
Dost thou fear
Nothing?
GUENDOLEN.
My princely cousin, not indeed
Much that might hap at word or will of thine.
CAMBER.
Ay--meanest am I of my father's seed,
If men misjudge not, cousin; and Locrine
Noblest.
GUENDOLEN.
Should I gainsay their general rede,
My heart would mock me.
CAMBER.
Such a spirit as mine
Being spiritless--my words heartless--mine acts
Faint shadows of Locrine's or Albanact's?
GUENDOLEN.
Nay--not so much--I said not so. Say thou
What thou wouldst have--if aught thou wouldst--with me.
CAMBER.
No man might see thine eyes and lips and brow
Who would not--what he durst not crave of thee.
GUENDOLEN.
Ay, verily? And thy spirit exalts thee now
So high that these thy words fly forth so free,
And fain thine act would follow--flying above
Shame's reach and fear's? What gift may this be? Love?
Or liking? or compassion?
CAMBER.
Take not thus
Mine innocent words amiss, nor wrest awry
Their piteous purpose toward thee.
GUENDOLEN.
Piteous!
Who lives so low and looks upon the sky
As would desire--who shares the sun with us
That might deserve thy pity?
CAMBER.
Thou.
GUENDOLEN.
Not I,
Though I were cast out hence, cast off, discrowned,
Abject, ungirt of all that guards me round,
Naked. What villainous madness, knave and king,
Is this that puts upon thy babbling tongue
Poison?
CAMBER.
The truth is as a snake to sting
That breathes ill news: but where its fang hath stung
The very pang bids health and healing spring.
God knows the grief wherewith my spirit is wrung -
The spirit of thee so scorned, so misesteemed,
So mocked with strange misprision and misdeemed
Merciless, false, unbrotherly--to take
Such task upon it as may burn thine heart
With bitterer hatred of me that I spake
What, had I held my peace and crept apart
And tamed my soul to silence for thy sake
And mercy toward the royal thing thou art,
Chance haply might have made a fiery sword
To slay thee with--slay thee, and spare thy lord.
GUENDOLEN.
Worse had it done to slay my lord, and spare
Me. Wilt thou now show mercy toward me? Then
Strike with that sword mine heart through--if thou dare.
All know thy tongue's edge deadly.
CAMBER.
Guendolen,
Thou seest me like a vassal bound to bear
All bitter words that bite the hearts of men
From thee, so be it this please thy wrath. I stand
Slave of thy tongue and subject of thine hand,
And pity thee. Take, if thou wilt, my head;
Give it my brother. Thou shalt hear me speak
First, though the soothfast word that hangs unsaid
As yet, being spoken,--albeit this hand be weak
And faint this heart, thou sayest--should strike thee dead
Even with that rose of wrath on brow and cheek.
GUENDOLEN.
I hold not thee too faint of heart to slay
Women. Say forth whate'er thou hast heart to say.
CAMBER.
Silence I have not heart to keep, and see
Scorn and derision gird thee round with shame,
Not knowing what all thy serfs who mock at thee
Know, and make mirth and havoc of thy name.
Does this not move thee?
GUENDOLEN.
How should aught move me
Fallen from such tongues as falsehood finds the same -
Such tongues as fraud or treasonous hate o'erscurfs
With leprous lust--a prince's or a serf's?
CAMBER.
That lust of the evil-speaking tongue which gives
Quick breath to deadly lies, and stings to life
The rottenness of falsehood, when it
I love thee not? Hark! see, my sire for sign!
I hear his horse.
ESTRILD.
He comes!
SABRINA.
He comes today!
[Exeunt
SCENE II.--Troynovant. A Room in the Palace.
Enter GUENDOLEN and CAMBER.
GUENDOLEN.
I know not, sir, what ails you to desire
Such audience of me as I give.
CAMBER.
What ails
Me, sister? Were the heart in me no higher
Than his who heeds no more than harpers' tales
Such griefs as set a sister's heart on fire -
GUENDOLEN.
Then were my brother now at rest in Wales,
And royal.
CAMBER.
Am I less than royal here?
GUENDOLEN.
Even here as there alike, sir.
CAMBER.
Dost thou fear
Nothing?
GUENDOLEN.
My princely cousin, not indeed
Much that might hap at word or will of thine.
CAMBER.
Ay--meanest am I of my father's seed,
If men misjudge not, cousin; and Locrine
Noblest.
GUENDOLEN.
Should I gainsay their general rede,
My heart would mock me.
CAMBER.
Such a spirit as mine
Being spiritless--my words heartless--mine acts
Faint shadows of Locrine's or Albanact's?
GUENDOLEN.
Nay--not so much--I said not so. Say thou
What thou wouldst have--if aught thou wouldst--with me.
CAMBER.
No man might see thine eyes and lips and brow
Who would not--what he durst not crave of thee.
GUENDOLEN.
Ay, verily? And thy spirit exalts thee now
So high that these thy words fly forth so free,
And fain thine act would follow--flying above
Shame's reach and fear's? What gift may this be? Love?
Or liking? or compassion?
CAMBER.
Take not thus
Mine innocent words amiss, nor wrest awry
Their piteous purpose toward thee.
GUENDOLEN.
Piteous!
Who lives so low and looks upon the sky
As would desire--who shares the sun with us
That might deserve thy pity?
CAMBER.
Thou.
GUENDOLEN.
Not I,
Though I were cast out hence, cast off, discrowned,
Abject, ungirt of all that guards me round,
Naked. What villainous madness, knave and king,
Is this that puts upon thy babbling tongue
Poison?
CAMBER.
The truth is as a snake to sting
That breathes ill news: but where its fang hath stung
The very pang bids health and healing spring.
God knows the grief wherewith my spirit is wrung -
The spirit of thee so scorned, so misesteemed,
So mocked with strange misprision and misdeemed
Merciless, false, unbrotherly--to take
Such task upon it as may burn thine heart
With bitterer hatred of me that I spake
What, had I held my peace and crept apart
And tamed my soul to silence for thy sake
And mercy toward the royal thing thou art,
Chance haply might have made a fiery sword
To slay thee with--slay thee, and spare thy lord.
GUENDOLEN.
Worse had it done to slay my lord, and spare
Me. Wilt thou now show mercy toward me? Then
Strike with that sword mine heart through--if thou dare.
All know thy tongue's edge deadly.
CAMBER.
Guendolen,
Thou seest me like a vassal bound to bear
All bitter words that bite the hearts of men
From thee, so be it this please thy wrath. I stand
Slave of thy tongue and subject of thine hand,
And pity thee. Take, if thou wilt, my head;
Give it my brother. Thou shalt hear me speak
First, though the soothfast word that hangs unsaid
As yet, being spoken,--albeit this hand be weak
And faint this heart, thou sayest--should strike thee dead
Even with that rose of wrath on brow and cheek.
GUENDOLEN.
I hold not thee too faint of heart to slay
Women. Say forth whate'er thou hast heart to say.
CAMBER.
Silence I have not heart to keep, and see
Scorn and derision gird thee round with shame,
Not knowing what all thy serfs who mock at thee
Know, and make mirth and havoc of thy name.
Does this not move thee?
GUENDOLEN.
How should aught move me
Fallen from such tongues as falsehood finds the same -
Such tongues as fraud or treasonous hate o'erscurfs
With leprous lust--a prince's or a serf's?
CAMBER.
That lust of the evil-speaking tongue which gives
Quick breath to deadly lies, and stings to life
The rottenness of falsehood, when it