Chapter XII: Act II

SCENE III. _A wild forest, cliff and hills in the distance; a gypsy hut in the centre._

BERT.――My good woman, do you know me, that you look at me so hard?

MEG.――Ay, better than you know yourself!

BERT.――Aye, aye. That is, you’ll tell my fortune.

MEG.――Yes, because I know your past.

BERT.――Indeed! Then you have read a perplexed page.

MEG.――It will be clearer soon.

BERT.――Never less likely.

MEG.――Never more so! If, with a simple spell, I cannot recall times which you have long forgotten, hold me the most miserable impostor. Hear me, hear me, Henry――Henry Bertram! Hark! hark to the sound of other days! Listen, and let your heart awake. (_Sings. Air, Gypsy Girl._)

Oh! hark ye, young Henry,
Thy sire is a knight,
Thy mother a lady,
So lovely and bright;
The hills and the dales,
From the towers which we see,
They all shall belong,
My dear Henry, to thee.
Oh! rest thee, babe; rest thee, babe;
Sleep on till day.
Oh! rest thee, babe; rest thee, babe;
Sleep while thee may.

BERT.――These words do, indeed, thrill my bosom with strange emotions. Woman, speak more plainly, and tell me why those sounds thus agitate my inmost soul, and what ideas they are that thus darkly throng upon my mind at hearing them.

MEG.――

Listen youth, to words of power;
Swiftly comes the rightful hour!
They who did thee scathe and wrong,
Shall pay their deeds by death ere long.
The dark shall be light, and the wrong made right,
And Bertram’s right, and Bertram’s might,
Shall meet on Ellangowan’s height!

BERT.――Bertram! Bertram! Why does that name sound so familiar to me?

MEG.――And now, begone! Franco, Franco, guide these strangers on their way to Kippletringan; Kippletringan! Yet stay; let me see your hand. What say these lines of fortunes past? Wandering, and woe, and danger, and crosses in love and friendship! What of the future? Honor, wealth, prosperity, love rewarded and friendship reunited! But what of the present? Ay! there’s a trace, which speaks of danger, of captivity, perchance; but not of death! If you are attacked, be men, and let your hands defend your heads! I will not be far distant from you in the moment of need. And now begone! Fate calls you! Away, away, away! (_Exit._)