FLERIDA.
Day wanes: full summer's hanging in the air.
Oh, tarry not, my own.
See! the first withered leaf is fallen there
And I am here alone.
Hath not my sorrow magic o'er thy breast?
Hath not my weary plight
The wings of love to fly into thy nest
And reach thee in the night?
Come to me, Palmerin. Thy trial's o'er,
Thy knightly vow fulfilled.
Come before winter chokes the ways, before
My inmost soul is chilled.
Where dost thou wander? From what lonely moor
Dost thou salute this sun?
Forget'st thou in gay courts what I endure?
Lov'st thou some happier one?
Weak woman! Can my doubting heart not wait
While his true heart can fight?
Why should I falter while he fronts his fate,
Or mourn while he doth right?
Keep him, great world, till the white shield he bore
Be blazoned rich in pride.
Fear not to echo, deserts, he's no more,
If he have nobly died.
Re-enter NURSE; later HUGH, a page.
NURSE. Run hither quickly, mistress. Hasten in
And bid them raise the bridge. Some horsemen climb
The western hill. Make haste, or all is lost.
Young Hugh espied them from the northern tower,
And gave us warning.
FLERIDA. Heaven hears my prayer.
NURSE. Madness. Come in. I prithee hasten, Hugh.
She 'll take thy word, though she mistrusts my oath
Who never lied to her in all these years
That I have served her, and her mother, too,
Long before she was thought of. Speak, boy, speak.
Assure thy mistress that a host arrives.
HUGH. A single knight, my lady, clad in arms.
FLERIDA. Young, with fair locks?
HUGH. He had his helmet on.
FLERIDA. Saw'st thou his shield?.
HUGH. It bore a rich device.
But what I know not.
FLERIDA. Came he mounted well?
HUGH. Right well, on a white steed. But at the turn
Dismounted, and now leads the charger up.
NURSE. O God, 't is he! I know him by that sign.
He always did so. [A bugle is heard in the distance.
FLERIDA. God be my strength! Answer the bugle, Hugh.
Thy master's call. It is Sir Palmerin.
Again, again.—Summon the men-at-arms
And fetch my father's sword, his helm and shield,
That, with the great keys, I deliver them
To him whose right they are.
[Exit HUGH.
The day is come,
Merciful God, the day is come at last.
NURSE. Runnest thou not to meet him? Flyest thou not?
Oh, if I could, I'd rush to kiss his hands
Full half-way down the steep. Alas! these bones.
FLERIDA. I, who have waited for him five long years,
May well be patient now. Here let him find me
Where last we parted, at the castle gate.
Re-enter HUGH, men-at-arms, and attendant, bearing some pieces of armour.
NURSE. Oh, I must weep for joy! See, where he comes,
Not so much changed but I should know him still
Among a thousand. Such a pretty child
As the knight was, and such a roguish boy!
Can this be Palmerin? Who could have fancied
That he should ever be this stalwart man?
Enter SIR PALMERIN, who, seeing the lady FLERIDA, who remains motionless, goes to kneel before her.
PALMERIN. Lady, hast thou forgotten Palmerin?
FLERIDA. Were memory dead, that voice would waken it.
PALMERIN. What mean these weeds, these arms?
FLERIDA. That thou, my liege,
Art master in this castle.
PALMERIN. Ah, thy father—
How long have we been orphaned, Flerida?
FLERIDA. Ten moons have shed their light upon his grave.
PALMERIN. Oh, more than father—
FLERIDA. And thou more than son
Wast ever to him. He remembered thee
With his last breath, and bade me, when thou earnest,
Render his arms, his vassals, and his towers
Into thy hand. My lord, receive the keys. [Kneels.
PALMERIN [raising her].
How gladly, if these keys unlock thy heart,
Dear lady. For my prize is not these walls,
Nor these stout men and honourable arms.
'T was not for them I served the Emperor
In many a battle waged in heathen lands.
'T was in the hope of what no strength of arm
Nor kingly favour, without grace of thine,
Could win for any man. If thou canst love me,
I take all else to do thee homage with;
But if thy heart, in my long absence won
By some more worthy suitor, would withdraw,
Keep the rest too, for to be wretched in
I have this whole vast world for heritage.
FLERIDA. My hand and heart my father plighted thee
Upon the morning when he dubbed thee knight.
Both shall be true. If other ground were lacking,
My father's choice were ground enough for love.
PALMERIN. Nay, let not duty and thy father's will
Force thee to wed me. Bid thy heart pronounce.
FLERIDA. A holy love is not the fancy's choice.
A mother cherishes the child she bore,
Nature's dear gift, bestowed with many a pang
And weary vigil and sweet fluttering joy
That flies over a sea of brooding care.
A father is not chosen but revered,
For God appointed him. 'T is destiny,
And no man's wayward will, binds brothers, kindred,
And childhood's friends in everlasting bonds.
Our native land we chose not, nor our king,
Nor our first sovereign, God. All sacred ties
Are woven round us by the hand of heaven
And therefore bear us up. Let homeless traitors
Reject their lot, like fallen Lucifer
Wretched 'neath every sky; let the false rabble
Change with the moon its despicable chiefs;
Let the vain fop and goaded libertine
Pick their poor pleasures, and adulterous spirits
Pursue a phantom down the drifts of hell.
But we will breathe the air that quickened us
And see by this same light that gave us eyes,
Here rooted where God sowed us, flowering here
Where we have grown, making our constancy
A pivot for this wheeling universe.
Ah! 't is a fickle and unholy fondness
Springs from caprice of will. Who doteth once
May dote again, for who shall fetter fancy?
As thou couldst bare thy breast to fortune's arrows
Undaunted, for thy hope was all in God
And life or death must crown it, so my bosom,
Enshrining his good gifts, is satisfied
And cannot speak again. Him heaven gave me
Shall be my lord and my unchangeable love.
PALMERIN. O constant lady! Let me then thank heaven,
That graced me with the treasure of thy troth.
Rejoice with me, my comrades. Say no more
That time has parted us, and devious chances
Governed our lives. How now, is this good Carl?
And little Hugh, so grown? And thou, old gossip,
Goes thy rheum better now the season warms?
But where is Ulric?
FLERIDA. Thou shalt know anon.
First bid the people give us leave awhile.
PALMERIN. Make ready, then; we follow you.
[Exeunt all save PALMERIN and FLERIDA.