Lennox. How can I tell? He loved her from the beginning ... as I love you.
Elizabeth.... The beginning?
Lennox. Two days ago.
Elizabeth [starting up]. A woodman comes. [He pulls her down again.]
Lennox. How can I tell the story if you run away?
Elizabeth. Indeed ... I love to listen.
Lennox [goes on rapidly]. Well ... thus was it. These two loved ... oh, terribly! And the father of the knight, a great count, parted them, since the boy would not go fight against his country’s enemies except he wedded the lady ... and the Count bid her foster-father shut her in a prison so that she should weave no spells about him more.
Elizabeth. This is too sad a story. [Wipes her eyes.]
Lennox. It was a very fair prison in a great castle, dearest.... And she quickly escaped from it by her art.
Elizabeth. Good, good!