Chapter XVI: Act I

ISEULT'S apartment at St. Lubin.--A curtain hung from the ceiling cuts off one-third of the room. This third is raised one step above the rest of the room. The background is formed by a double bay-window through which may be seen the tops of some pine trees. In front of a couch, on a small table, stands a large gold shrine in which rests the magic brachet Peticru, a toy of jewels and precious metals. Beside it stands a burning oil torch. The remaining two-thirds of the room are almost empty. A table stands in the foreground; on the floor lies a rug on which are embroidered armorial designs. In the middle and at both sides are wide double doors. ISEULT sits on the couch before the shrine. She is clad in a fur-trimmed robe. BRANGAENE loosens ISEULT'S hair which is divided into two braids. The cold, gray light of dawn brightens gradually; the rising sun falls on the tops of the trees, coloring them with a flood of red and gold.

SCENE I

ISEULT (singing).
Brachet of safran and em'rald!
Oh, brachet of purple and gold
Once made by the mighty Urgan
In Avalun's wondrous wold.

Oh purple, and safran, and gold,
When cast in the dim of the night,
Have magical power to aid
All lovers in sorrowful plight!

Lord Tristram slew mighty Urgan,
Lord Tristram the loving, the true,
And pitying sorrowful lovers
He carried away Peticru.
Lord Tristram, the thoughtful and valiant,
Lord Tristram, the noble and high,
Has sent me this wondrous brachet
Lest weeping and grieving I die.

Lord Tristram, my friend, is unfaithful,
And God's wrath on him shall descend;
Though cruelly he has betrayed me,
My love even death cannot end.

Iseult with her hair of spun gold,
Where rubies and emeralds shine,
When the end of her life is at hand,
Round Tristram some charm can entwine.

--When Tristram too shall die....

[ISEULT stands up, extinguishes the light,
and, flooded by her hair, steps to the window.
BRANGAENE opens a chest from which she takes
robes, combs, a mirror, and several small
boxes. She prepares a small dressing table.]

ISEULT.
The light begins to filter through the land;
Behold, the trees with storm-bow'd tips drop down
A thousand drops into the moss below
That seem as many sparks, all cold and bright.

Each day is followed by another one,
And then another day, and after each
Comes night. Thus runs my life's long chain of beads,
All black and white, endless, and all the same.

[She turns and throws off her cloak.]

Give me my new white cloak, and comb my hair,
I pray, Brangaene.--O, it aches!

[BRANGAENE throws a cloak over her shoulders.
ISEULT sits down at the dressing table while
BRANGAENE combs her hair, dividing it into
strands and throwing it, as she combs it,
over ISEULT'S shoulder.]

BRANGAENE.
The comb
Slides like a keel. Its narrow teeth can find
No bottom, neither shore in this blond sea.
I never saw thy hair so full, Iseult,
Nor yet so heavy! See the golden gold.

ISEULT.
It aches--!

BRANGAENE.
And here it's damp as though last night
It secretly had dried full many tears.

ISEULT.
I wonder if Lord Tristram spent last night
By his new bride--and if he calls her all
Those sweetest names he made for me.
Perhaps
He sat upon her couch and told her tales
Of me that made them laugh--! I wonder too
If she be fair. Lord Tristram's new-wed bride!--

SCENE II

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.

ISEULT.
Yea, boy, the wood
Is black and gloomy here. Give me some oil,
Brangaene, for my lips are parched and dried
From weeping all this never-ending night.

PARANIS (goes to the casement).
Above Tintagel, lo, the sky was blue;
The sun shone on a foreign ship that came
Across the seas and lay at anchor there
And made it look like gold. The ship came in
As we rode through the gate. I wish that I
Were at Tintagel once again and saw
That ship. For here black clouds obscure the sun
And hang close to the ground; they fly along
Like mighty ghosts. The earth smells damp and makes
Me shiver--Ugh--!

ISEULT (steps to the casement beside him and puts her arm
about his neck).
Nay, not today, for see,
The sun will shine and pour its golden rays
E'en o'er the Morois.

[She leans out until her head is overflowed
by the sunlight.]

Oh, it's very hot!

PARANIS (falling on his knees).
Oh Queen Iseult pray take the fairy dog
Into thy hands and it will comfort thee--
That wondrous brachet, Tristram's latest gift.
For, lo, since from Tintagel we have come
My heart is troubled by a wish to ask
Of thee a question, for Brangaene says
That when thou think'st of certain things thou weep'st
But I have never felt the like.

ISEULT.
Poor boy!
I lay awake the whole night through and yet
Not once did I take Petikru to me,
So ask, my child! What wouldst thou know!
Mine eyes
Are dry, for all my tears are spent, and gone.

[She has returned to the dressing table.]

PARANIS.
Is this the wood where thou and Tristram dwelt,
As people say, when ye had fled away?

ISEULT.
'Tis true this wood once sheltered us.

PARANIS (at the casement).
This wood?
This fearful wood? 'Twas here that thou, Iseult
Of Ireland, Iseult the Goldenhaired,
Took refuge with Lord Tristram like a beast
Hard pressed by dogs and men? There hang, perhaps.
Among the branches still some tattered shreds
From robes thou wor'st; and blood still tints the roots
Thou trod'st upon with bare and wounded feet!
'Twas here thou say'st? Within this wood?

ISEULT (rising).
Yes, child,
And this the castle--

[BRANGAENE takes the cloak from ISEULT'S
shoulders and helps her put on a loose
flowing garment. ISEULT'S hair is hidden
beneath a close-fitting cap.]

PARANIS (steps nearer, in great surprise).
Where ye fled from Mark's
Abom'nable decree? The castle makes
Me shudder and the wood that grows around.

BRANGAENE (quoting the decree).
"And if from this day on Lord Tristram dares
To show himself within my realm--he dies,
And with him dies Iseult of Ireland ..."

ISEULT (quoting).
"And witness here my name signed with my blood--"

[She goes to the table on the right and sets
up the chess-men. PARANIS sits on a cushion
at her feet. BRANGAENE clears the dressing
table.]

PARANIS. Is it since that day thou hast wept, my Queen?

ISEULT. Thou know'st my secret boy and yet canst ask!

BRANGAENE.
Inquire not too much, Paranis, lest
A deeper knowledge of such things consume
Thy soul, and leave in place a cinder-pile.

PARANIS.
There's more they say, yet I believe no more.

ISEULT.
And what do people say, Paranis?

PARANIS.
Why,
They say Lord Tristram, since he fled away
To save his life, and, ay, to save thine too.
Forgot thee. Queen Iseult, and thy great love
And wed another in a foreign land.

ISEULT.
They call her Isot of the Fair White Hands.

[A pause.]

PARANIS.
When I'm a man, and wear my gilded spurs
I'll love and serve thee with a truer love
Than Tristram did.

ISEULT.
How old art thou, my child?

PARANIS.
When I first came to serve thee as a page
Thirteen I was; that was a year ago.
I'm fourteen now, but when I dream, I dream
That I am older and I love thee then
In knightly fashion, and my sword is dull'd
And scarred by blows that it has struck for thee.
My heart beats high when I behold thy face;
My cheek burns hot or freezes ashen pale.
And then, at other times, I dream that I
Have died for thee, only to wake and weep
That I am still a child!

ISEULT.
Listen to me,
Paranis. Once, wandering, a gleeman came
Two years agone and sang a lay in Mark's
High hall; but, see! I said not it applied
To us, this song of his. A song it was
And nothing more. This lay told of a queen,
A certain queen whose page once loved her much,
With all the courtesy of Knighthood's laws;
Whose every glance was for his lady's face;
Whose cheeks alternately went hot and cold
When she was near. But when the King perceived
His changing color and his burning looks,
He slew the boy, and, tearing out his heart,
Now red, now pale, he roasted it, and served
It to his queen and told her 'twas a bird
His favorite hawk had slain that day.

PARANIS.
Tell me,
I pray, my lady, when a Knight has won
His spurs may he write songs?

ISEULT.
Ay, that he may.

PARANIS.
Since that is so, I'd rather sing than fight.
I'll go from court to court and sing in each
How Tristram was untrue to Queen Iseult!
I will avenge thy wrongs in songs instead
Of with the sword, and every one who hears
My words shall weep as thou, my queen, has wept.
I like the lay about that page's heart
Thou toldst me.

ISEULT.
Remember it, my child;
Brangaene knows the melody thereof.
And she shall teach it thee that thou mayst learn
The lay.

PARANIS (at the window).
The King's awake; I hear him call
His hounds.

ISEULT.
Then go, Paranis, bear to him
My morning and my wifely greeting; say
I rested well this night; that thou hast left
Me overjoyed and happy that the day
Is fair. Now haste thee, boy, for soon
The Gaelic barons through the gates shall ride
Coming to pay their homage to King Mark,
Delay not, child, and if the King shall grant
Thee spurs, with mine own hands I'll choose thee out
The finest pair, and deep my name shall stand
Engraved in the gold. Go greet the King.

[PARANIS kisses the hem of her robe and
goes.]

SCENE III

ISEULT.
Lord Tristram has kept true unto my name
At least--if not to me! 'Tis now the tenth
Year that I mourn for him! In countless nights
Of endless agony have I repaid
Those other nights of happiness and bliss.
Through age-long days now beggared of their joy
I have atoned for all the smiles of yore.
Unkindly have ye dealt with me, sweet friend!
Disloyal Tristram! God shall punish thee.
Not I.

[BRANGAENE kneels weeping beside her and
buries her face in ISEULT'S robes. ISEULT
raises her up.]

And thou, dear one, sweet sister, come!
My sorrow's past enduring! Help me, help!
At Lubin here the very walls have tongues;
At Lubin here the sombre forest moans;
At Lubin here old Husdent whimpers day
And night unceasingly. 'Twas at Lubin
I parted from him last, my dearest friend,
And to his parting vows I answered thus:
"Take, friend, this golden ring with em'rald stone,
And if in thy name one shall bring it me,
No dungeon walls, no castle gates, no bolts
Shall keep me far from thee." And he: "I thank
Thee, dearest lady, and I swear that if,
At any time, in any place, one calls
On me by thy sweet name I'll stand and wait
And answer in thy name by day or night."
And then--and then--he rode away!

BRANGAENE.
Iseult!
Iseult, my dearest, might I die, for I,
Wretch that I am, am most at fault,
Too ready for deceits and secret ways!

ISEULT.
Because I love a life, and better still
A death, that's great from savage unrestraint,
Such as I found in mighty Tristram's love,
'Tis not thy fault. And formerly when thou
Didst lend me thine own maiden smock to wear
Upon my bridal night with Mark, since mine
Was torn when I set foot on Cornish ground,
Thou didst fulfill what, as my guardian friend,
Thou hadst foreseen in earlier days. Weep not
Because I weep; Lord Tristram's treachery
Is his, not ours. For this it is I weep.

BRANGAENE.
Thou shouldst not say, he is not faithful still.
Dear sister. What know we of him or his?

ISEULT.
That he has married!

BRANGAENE.
Ay, her name's Iseult.
My name! I shudder when I think thereon.
And lo, his perjured tongue rots not, nor cleaves
Unto his teeth, nor does the name he calls
Her by choke in his throat and strangle him.

BRANGAENE.
Mark me, Iseult, I had not meant to speak,
But now I must: a servant of King Mark's
Spoke lately of that ship we saw sail in
And then cast anchor 'neath Tintagel's walls.
A merchant ship it is, he said, and hails
Direct from Arundland. Now send
And bid these merchants leave their ship and come,
That they may tell what they have seen or heard
Of Tristram and his fate.

PARANIS (runs in and leaps upon the window-sill).
Oh Queen, there come
Three Gaelic earls! Dinas of Lidan first.

BRANGAENE (hastening to his side).
Come then, Iseult, and from the casement here
Behold the faithful Dinas, Tristram's friend!

PARANIS.
The one in coat of mail who rides behind
Who is the man, Brangaene, canst thou see?

BRANGAENE.
Oh God! Denovalin, ill-omened bird
Of grim Tintagel.

ISEULT.
Arund? Didst thou say
A merchant ship sailed in from Arundland?
That great gold sail, Brangaene, came across
The ocean to Tintagel? What? A ship,
And merchant men from Arund? Speak, friend, speak!
Thou talk'st of Arund, and remain'st unmoved!
Brangaene, cruel, speak and say the men
Are on their way to me, or are now here!
Torture me not!

BRANGAENE.
Nay, hear me speak, Iseult;
I said a servant of King Mark's said this;
I know not whether it be true; to know
We must be back within Tintagel's walls.

ISEULT (in rising agitation).
Wait till we're back within Tintagel's walls?
Not see the merchants till we are gone back,
And linger thus for three whole days, say'st thou?
Nay, nay, Brangaene, nay I will not wait.
'Twas not for this ten never-ending years
I sat upon Tintagel's tower and watched
With anxious eyes the many ships sail o'er
The green expanse from sky to sky. 'Twas not
For this; that day by day Paranis went,
At my behest, down to the port, while I
Sat counting every minute, one by one,
Until he should return, and tell me tales
Of ships and lands indifferent as a fly's
Short life to me!--And now thou tellest me
A ship is here; a great gold sail lies moor'd
Hard by Tintagel's walls, a ship in which
Men live, and speak, and say when asked:
"Where come ye from!" "From Arundland we sail."
Go quick, Brangaene; to Tintagel send, I pray,
At once some swift and faithful messenger,
And bid him with all haste lead here to me
These merchants over night. I need both silks
And laces, samite and the snowy fur
Of ermines, and whatever else they have.
All that they have I'll gladly buy! Let them
But ride with speed!

BRANGAENE.
Ay, ride as peddlers do!
Yet will I send Gawain, since 'tis thy wish,
And with him yet another.

PARANIS.
Queen Iseult,
May I go with Gawain? I'll make them ride,
These merchant-men! I'll stick my dagger twixt
Their shoulder blades and prick them 'till from fear
They fairly fly to thee!

ISEULT.
Nay, rather, child,
Stay here with me; but help Brangaene find Gawain.

[BRANGAENE and PARANIS open the door at
the back of the stage but stand back on
either side to permit MARK and the three
Barons to enter.]

BRANGAENE.
The King!

SCENE IV

BRANGAENE and PARANIS go. MARK and the barons remain standing at some distance from ISEULT. DENOVALIN remains in the background and during this and the following scene stands almost motionless in the same spot.

MARK.
There stands Iseult, my queen,
All glorious as the summer day that shines
O'er all the world! Now welcome, my Iseult!
Now welcome to Lubin! These gallant lords
Are come to greet thee--Dinas, Ganelun,
Denovalin.--They have not seen thee now
For many months. And ye, my noble lords.
Is she not blonder than of yore?

[He glances at a locket that hangs about his
neck.]

For see!
This lock of hair Lord Tristram brought me once.
Behold it now, 'tis almost black next hers.

ISEULT.
I greet thee, Dinas, Lord of Lidan, friend,
Most loyal friend:--and thou. Lord Ganelun,
Most heartily, for many days have pass'd
Since last we met.

DINAS.
Ay, many days, Iseult.

ISEULT.
Hast thou forgot Tintagel's King and Queen?
'Twas not so once.

GANELUN.
I've been at Arthur's court
Nigh on two years, and there have taken part
In many deeds of high renown. 'Tis this
Has kept me from Tintagel and from home.

DINAS.
And I, fair Queen Iseult, am growing old;
I've left the saddle for the pillow's ease.

(Pointedly.)

I see the chess-board stands prepared and so,
If Mark permits, 'tis I who in his place
Will lead the crimson pawns today, as we
Were wont to do in former days. I love
The game but have no friend with whom to play.

MARK.
Ay, Dinas, good it is to have some one
Who loves us near us in our twilight years;
So play today with Goldenhaired Iseult.
Perchance it may amuse her too, for oft
She seemeth sad, and mourns as women do
Who have no children.--God forgive us both!
But come, my lords, first let us drink a pledge
Of greeting, and permit this man to make
His peace with my fair queen. I hate long feuds.
Come, friends, come, let us drink, for all this day
We'll spend together in good fellowship.

[He leaves the room with DINAS and GANELUN
by the door on the right. ISEULT and
DENOVALIN stand opposite each other, some
distance apart, silent and motionless.]

SCENE V

DENOVALIN (calmly and insinuatingly).
Am I a vulture, Queen Iseult, that thou
Art silent when I am within thy cage?

ISEULT (angrily).
My Lord Denovalin, how dar'st thou show
Thyself thus brazenly before me here?

DENOVALIN.
Harsh words the Queen Iseult is pleased to use!

ISEULT.
And I shall beg the King that he forbid
Thee to appear within a mile around
The castle with thy visor raised.

DENOVALIN.
King Mark
Is not my over-lord. I'm not his liege.

ISEULT.
And I tell thee, my Lord Denovalin,
Thy face is more abhorred by me than plague;
More hateful than dread leprosy! Away!

DENOVALIN.
More measured should'st thou be in thy reproof.

(Much moved.)

It was for thee I came today, harsh Queen!

ISEULT.
When last thou stoodst before my face, my Lord,
Naked I was, and men at arms prepar'd
The glowing pyre whereon thy jealousy
Had doomed my youthful body to be burned!
Calm wast thou then; no quiver moved thy face,
Untroubled by thy deed. Dost thou forget?

DENOVALIN.
And Tristram stood beside thee then, as he
Had stood, when I accused thee to King Mark,
And when I see him standing next to thee,
My eyes grow dim and all the world seems red
With blood. 'Twas him I saw, not thee, Iseult,
Else had I died of sorrow and of shame.

ISEULT.
What, _thou_? _Thou_ grieve! _Thou_ die of shame? The stones
Shall soften and shall melt ere thou, my lord,
Hast learned what pity means!

DENOVALIN.
Thou dost misjudge
Me, Queen Iseult, for when thy foot first touched
The Cornish strand as thou stepped'st from thy ship
And came to be the bride of Mark, I saw
Thee then, and by the Lord, a solemn oath
Of loyalty upon thy golden hair
To thee I swore! Oh thou wast wondrous fair!

ISEULT.
And I, my Lord, what evil did I thee?

DENOVALIN.
Thou loved'st Tristram.

ISEULT.
What? Denovalin,
When, by a miracle of God, I have
Escaped the fiery death which thou prepared'st;
When, with these tender hands of mine, I bore
Before my judges, and without a burn
The glowing iron, and with sacred oath
Have sworn, thou darest doubt Almighty God's
Decree, and dar'st accuse me still, and say
I love Lord Tristram with a guilty love?
This nephew of my wedded spouse! Of this
I'll make complaint unto my sponsors, Lord!

DENOVALIN (calmly).
Almighty God thou hast, perhaps, deceived,
But we, at least, Iseult, we must be frank,
Though enemies, and deal straightforwardly
With one another.

ISEULT.
Go, thou were-wolf!--Go!

DENOVALIN.
There was a time when I, too, heard the song
Of birds in spring-time; but the fragrant breath
Thy golden hair exhales,--that hair which I
Have seen flow rippling through Lord Tristram's hands--
Has made me hard and rough--a very beast!
I live pent up within my castle walls
As some old wolf! I sleep all day and ride
At night! Ay, ride until my steed comes home
With gasping nostril and with bloody flank,
And lies as dead when morning comes! My hounds
Fall dead along the road! And yet, may be,
That long before the earliest cock has crowed
I cry aloud upon thy name each day
Like one who swelters in his own life's blood!
Remember this, for hadst thou once, Iseult,
Beside me ridden ere the night grew dark,
Perchance this hatred of all living things
Had never got such hold upon my soul.
Remember this, throughout the many things
Which shall, ere evening, come to pass.
And evening comes to thee, Iseult,--to me,
To all! And so 'tis best thou understand
The secret of the past fairly to judge.
This is the peace I fain would have with thee.

ISEULT.
I am afraid--afraid--of thee!

DENOVALIN.
Thou shouldst
Not fear, Iseult, these words so seemingly
Devoid of sense!

(Changing the subject.)

At dawn today I rode
Along the Morois.

ISEULT.
Ay, since that's the road
That leads the straightest from thy lofty hall
To St. Lubin.--

DENOVALIN.
I met a quarry there!
A quarry wondrous strange! Shall I, Iseult,
Go bring it bound to thee?

ISEULT (in great anxiety).
I wish no fur,
Or pelts slain by thy hand, Denovalin--

DENOVALIN.
That I believe, Iseult, yet it might please King Mark.

(Breaking out passionately.)

It might be that once more
Thou felt'st the burning touch of death, all hot
And red. And if no safe retreat there were
For thee in Cornwall, save my castle walls,
And not a man in Cornwall stood to shield
Thy golden tresses from the hangman's hand
Except myself! If such the case what wouldst
Thou do if I said "come?"

ISEULT (wild with terror and despair).
If such the case,
Oh God of Bethlehem! If such the case
I'd fling my arms about the neck of Death,
And, clinging close to him, I'd spit at thee,
Denovalin! Those wrinkles, cold and hard,
About thy mouth on either side disgust
Me! Go, Denovalin! I loath thee! Go!

DENOVALIN.
I go, Iseult, for thou hast made thy choice;
Forget it not. Forget not, too, the pact
Of peace my soul has made with thine. Farewell!
I'll go and bid Lord Dinas come to play
At chess with thee. Play quickly, Queen Iseult,
Thy time is short, and short shall be thy game!

[He goes.]

SCENE VI

ISEULT.
Oh God, how bitter are his words! They cut
Like sharpen'd swords and burn like hissing flames!
What is his will? His speech, though witless, ay,
And senseless too, insults and threatens me.--
It warns me too--of what?--Oh God, I quake!
If but Brangaene came, or Dinas came!
They come not and this creeping fear--how hard
It grips my soul!--More Gaelic barons come--!
How often have I stood concealed here
And seen him come proud riding through the gate!
My friend that comes no more! How grand he was!
His lofty stature did o'ertop them all!
How nobly trod his steed!--Dear Tristram, friend.
Does thy new Isot's heart beat quick as mine
At but the thought of thy dear step?

(Kneels down in front of the little shrine.)

And thou,
Oh little brachet, thinks thy lord of me,
As I of him!--"For they who drink thereof
Together so shall love with every sense
Alive, yet senseless--with their every thought
Yet thoughtless too, in life, in death, for aye--.
Yet he, who once has known the wond'rous bliss
Of that intoxicating cup of love,
Spits out the draught disloyally, shall be
A homeless and a friendless worm--a weed
That grows beside the road." Oh Tristram, Lord.

DINAS enters. ISEULT rushes toward him.

Dinas of Lidan! Dearest friend, most true!
With what has this man threatened me? Of what,
Then, warned?--friend, speak, for round me whirls the world;
My brain is dizzy with each thought!

DINAS.
My Lord
Denovalin has bid me come to thee
To play at chess. He said thou wast in haste.
And has he, as Mark ordered him, made peace
With thee?

ISEULT.
Made peace with me! I told
Thee, Dinas, that he has stirred up the past
With gloomy words and threatened me. He spoke
Forebodingly of coming days--; I fear
His words and know not what is brewing o'er
My head!

DINAS.
Denovalin has threatened thee!
That bodes no good!

ISEULT.
What think'st thou, Dinas? Speak!

DINAS.
It makes me almost fear that I was not
Deceived this morn as through the mist I rode.

ISEULT.
Oh Dinas!

DINAS.
For I saw a man who rode
As secretly, and stole along the way
Concealed in the murky mists of dawn.
I--

ISEULT.
Dinas!

DINAS.
Tristram's in the land, Iseult!

ISEULT.
Oh Dinas, speak! (Softly.) My friend. Lord Tristram came
At dawn today--? The man who loved me so!
My dearest Lord--! Oh Dinas, Dinas, didst

(recovering herself)

Thou speak to him?

DINAS (sternly).
Twice called I him. He fled.

ISEULT.
Oh, why didst thou not call him in my name?
He would have stood thee answer then, for that
He swore to me he'd do, by day or night
At any place....

DINAS.
I called him in thy name,
And yet he fled away.

ISEULT.
He fled from thee?

(Angrily.)

It was not Tristram then! How dar'st thou speak
Such slander 'gainst my Lord!

DINAS.
I swore that I
Would be thy friend, and for thy sake, Iseult,
His friend. But now I say Lord Tristram broke
The oath he swore to thee, and on this day
Hath wronged thee grievously, Iseult.

ISEULT (heavily and brokenly).
The spouse
Of Isot of the Fair White Hands appeared
To thee, say'st thou, and broke his parting oath.
The last he swore to Iseult Goldenhaired?

PARANIS (enters in ill-suppressed excitement).
Lord Dinas, from King Mark I come. He bids
Thee come to him straightway with all despatch,
For in the name of justice calls he thee.

ISEULT.
Oh Dinas, Dinas, Tristram broke his oath--!
Lord Tristram broke his oath--!

DINAS.
And dost thou know,
My queen, that we must now attempt to ward
The consequences of King Mark's decree
And its fulfilment from thy head?

ISEULT (angrily).
How can
An alien woman's spouse affect my life?

DINAS.
I go to stem with all the strength I have
This current of perdition. Fare thee well.

[As DINAS goes out, three armed guards
step into the room and stand on either
side of the door.]

ISEULT.
And fare thee well, thou truest of the true!

(To the guards.)

And ye, what seek ye here?

GUARD.
King Mark has bid
Us guard thy door; thou may'st not go abroad
Till Mark has bid thee come.

PARANIS (falls on his knees).
Gawain lies bound;
Brangaene's cast into a prison cell,
And something awful's taking place within
The castle walls!--I know not what it is!

ISEULT.
Paranis, child, be still.