_Hud._ My steps are yours. [_To his companions_]
Each where he would, my friends.
[_Goes in with Senora_]
_Dir._ I'm for a swim.
_Gol._ And I.
_Maz._ The river? With you!
_Gol._ [_Leading left_] Bolderez' men are gathering opposite, Behind the river woods.
_Maz._ The pick of camps.
_Gol._ They know it too. There's water, and the trees Are cool and friendly.
_Dir._ Was it not resolved Bolderez' men should join the Federal Guards?
_Gol._ They do, in th' main. This is a straggling wing Left in the hills, that we have given leave To station here.
_Dir._ That's prudence too.
_Maz._ Why so?
_Dir._ I'm windward of a whisper.
_Gol._ About LeVal?
_Dir._ He's circling in. Let Hudibrand laugh low Or the enemy will hear him.
_Gol._ This LeVal Was dead and buried,--three months out of life,-- Shook from remembrance as the stalest clutter,-- Now, save our eyes, he's jumped alive and rides Our foremost thought! Enough to send a man Back to his marrows. I shall pray to-night.
_Maz._ A plunge for resolution! That will cool it.
[_Exeunt lower left. Senora comes out of house and crosses to seat, right_]
_Sen._ 'Tis five o'clock. No sign! But he will come.
He comes!
[_Enter Chartrien, lower right. They meet silently and clasp hands_]
_Cha._ My friend! I thought you far from here.
Safe in the capital. But nothing's strange To those who've moved mid miracles. You've seen LeVal?
_Sen._ I have.
_Cha._ I long to greet him. O, Such walking of the dead renews the earth And makes it habitable! I have heard It was Famette who saved him,--added that To array of deeds that must unlaurel all The heroines of time.
_Sen._ There'll be an hour To talk of that. Now you must see the princess.
_Cha._ Hernda is with you? _Here!_
_Sen._ And Hudibrand.
No danger there. He wants you now, and says You'll find good gra.s.s if you will leap the stile.
_Cha._ [_Answering her smile_] So blind as that? Poor mole, he's been in th' ground Too long. Will never get his eyes.
_Sen._ Ay, he'll Deny the sun till 't bakes him in his burrow.
But Hernda,--O, what welcome waits you, friend!
The ivory-crusted temple, shut and sealed To eternal airs, is now a fane of rose, Whose cloistral stairs, that wound so futilely, Will now through fragrant twilight lead you up To windowed Heaven. Come! Come, take your own!
_Cha._ No! Wait....
_Sen._ A lover speaks that word?
_Cha._ Senora,----
_Sen._ That wound she gave you here is open yet?
But you were wrong, and with your wretched doubts a.s.sailed her in the hour she lay on rack To save you.
_Cha._ On rack for me? She gave me up.
Gave me to him,--Megario,--knowing that Meant death.
_Sen._ And yet you live.
_Cha._ I--?
_Sen._ Live. Do you not know You were to die that night?
_Cha._ I've heard.
_Sen._ Those hours She gained for you meant life.
_Cha._ She gained for me?
I saw his lips on hers.
_Sen._ You did. And I-- I saw her face. The dead are warmer. She Could bear that touch for your sake, and on that Bore too your curse.
_Cha._ For me? I'll hear no more, Senora.
_Sen._ You will see her now?
_Cha._ Not now, Nor ever. I am here by pledge, to meet-- A friend.
[_Masio enters lower right_]
_Sen._ Is this--the man?
_Cha._ No, but I know him.
He's seeking me, I think.