ALL
( Thank God! I knew, I knew!
( We could not think them lost.
( Bewitched! Oh, but they live!—
( Piper!—O Piper!
PETER the Cobbler
They're spell-bound,—mark me!
PIPER
Ay, they are,—spell-bound:
Fast bound by all the hardness of your hearts;
Caged,—in the iron of your money-lust—
ALL
( No, no, not all! Not I! Not mine, not mine!
( No, no,—it is not true.
PIPER
Your blasphemies,—your cunning and your Fear.
ALL
( No, no!—What can we do?
( News, Piper, news!
( Where are your ridings, Piper?
PIPER
Now hear me. You did make Jacobus swear
To give his child.—What recks it, how he lose her?—
Either to Holy Church—against her will!—
Or to this man,—so that he give her up!
He swore to you. And she hath pledged her faith.
She is fast wed.—Jacobus shall not have her.
He breaks all bargains; and for such as he,
You suffer.—Will you bear it?
ALL
No, no, no!
PIPER
Then she who was "Proud Barbara" doth wed
Michael-the-Sword-Eater.—The pledge shall stand.
Shall it?
ALL
( It stands.
( Ay, ay!