Iseult turns quickly as her page comes in by the right hand door. He carries a chess-board and sets it down on the table in the foreground.
Iseult.
Were then thy dreams too painfully like this life,
Paranis, that thou hast outstripped the sun
And now, with eyes all red and swollen, star'st
So heavily?
Paranis.
Your pardon. Queen Iseult,
I could not sleep. Oh lady, what a night!
I tremble still!
Iseult.
The night indeed was wild.
Paranis.
Ay, like the sea the gale whips up. The wind
Swept all the covers from my bed and left
Me cold and trembling. Branches beat the wall
Above my head like demons of the storm.
The owls kept screaming in the groaning eaves
And whispered like lost souls in agony!
Hark! Hear him roar! Oh God, it's Husdent!
Oh listen to him roar. I never heard
A hound thus howl before!
Iseult.
Peace, child. He cries
Thus every night since he has lost his lord.
Paranis.
What? Every night and yet King Mark can sleep?
Iseult.
King Mark can sleep as all good knights can sleep
At any time and any where, while we,
Poor souls, must like a beggar sue for sleep
As for an alms.
(To Brangaene. )
The mirror and the cloak.
Paranis.
Pray tell me, Queen Iseult, why came we here
With good King Mark and left Tintagel's halls?
Why journeyed we to St. Lubin? The place
Is gloomy and an awful wood grows round
The castle walls. Oh 'tis an awful wood.
I am afraid, Iseult.