Queen Mary; and, Harold Part 55

GURTH. Yet if a fear, Or shadow of a fear, lest the strange Saints By whom thou swarest, should have power to balk Thy puissance in this fight with him, who made And heard thee swear--brother--_I_ have not sworn-- If the king fall, may not the kingdom fall?

But if I fall, I fall, and thou art king; And, if I win, I win, and thou art king; Draw thou to London, there make strength to breast Whatever chance, but leave this day to me.

LEOFWIN (_entering_). And waste the land about thee as thou goest, And be thy hand as winter on the field, To leave the foe no forage.

HAROLD. n.o.ble Gurth!

Best son of G.o.dwin! If I fall, I fall-- The doom of G.o.d! How should the people fight When the king flies? And, Leofwin, art thou mad?

How should the King of England waste the fields Of England, his own people?--No glance yet Of the Northumbrian helmet on the heath?

LEOFWIN. No, but a shoal of wives upon the heath, And someone saw thy w.i.l.l.y-nilly nun Vying a tress against our golden fern.

HAROLD. Vying a tear with our cold dews, a sigh With these low-moaning heavens. Let her be fetch'd.

We have parted from our wife without reproach, Tho' we have dived thro' all her practices; And that is well.

LEOFWIN. I saw her even now: She hath not left us.

HAROLD. Nought of Morcar then?

GURTH. Nor seen, nor heard; thine, William's or his own As wind blows, or tide flows: belike he watches, If this war-storm in one of its rough rolls Wash up that old crown of Northumberland.

HAROLD. I married her for Morcar--a sin against The truth of love. Evil for good, it seems, Is oft as childless of the good as evil For evil.

LEOFWIN. Good for good hath borne at times A b.a.s.t.a.r.d false as William.

HAROLD. Ay, if Wisdom Pair'd not with Good. But I am somewhat worn, A s.n.a.t.c.h of sleep were like the peace of G.o.d.

Gurth, Leofwin, go once more about the hill-- What did the dead man call it--Sanguelac, The lake of blood?

LEOFWIN. A lake that dips in William As well as Harold.

HAROLD. Like enough. I have seen The trenches dug, the palisades uprear'd And wattled thick with ash and willow-wands; Yea, wrought at them myself. Go round once more; See all be sound and whole. No Norman horse Can shatter England, standing shield by shield; Tell that again to all.

GURTH. I will, good brother.

HAROLD. Our guardsman hath but toil'd his hand and foot, I hand, foot, heart and head. Some wine!

(_One pours wine into a goblet which he hands to_ HAROLD.) Too much!

What? we must use our battle-axe to-day.

Our guardsmen have slept well, since we came in?

LEOFWIN. Ay, slept and snored. Your second-sighted man That scared the dying conscience of the king, Misheard their snores for groans. They are up again And chanting that old song of Brunanburg Where England conquer'd.

HAROLD. That is well. The Norman, What is he doing?

LEOFWIN. Praying for Normandy; Our scouts have heard the tinkle of their bells.

HAROLD. And our old songs are prayers for England too!

But by all Saints--

LEOFWIN. Barring the Norman!

HAROLD. Nay, Were the great trumpet blowing doomsday dawn, I needs must rest. Call when the Norman moves--

[_Exeunt all, but_ HAROLD.

No horse--thousands of horses--our shield wall-- Wall--break it not--break not--break-- [_Sleeps_.

VISION OF EDWARD. Son Harold, I thy king, who came before To tell thee thou shouldst win at Stamford-bridge, Come yet once more, from where I am at peace, Because I loved thee in my mortal day, To tell thee them shalt die on Senlac hill-- Sanguelac!

VISION OF WULFNOTH. O brother, from my ghastly oubliette I send my voice across the narrow seas-- No more, no more, dear brother, nevermore-- Sanguelac!

VISION OF TOSTIG. O brother, most unbrotherlike to me, Thou gavest thy voice against me in my life, I give my voice against thee from the grave-- Sanguelac!

VISION OF NORMAN SAINTS. O hapless Harold!

King but for an hour!

Thou swarest falsely by our blessed bones, We give our voice against thee out of heaven!

Sanguelac! Sanguelac! The arrow! the arrow!

HAROLD (_starting up, battle-axe in hand_.) Away!

My battle-axe against your voices. Peace!

The king's last word--'the arrow!' I shall die-- I die for England then, who lived for England-- What n.o.bler? men must die.

I cannot fall into a falser world-- I have done no man wrong. Tostig, poor brother, Art _thou_ so anger'd?

Fain had I kept thine earldom in thy hands Save for thy wild and violent will that wrench'd All hearts of freemen from thee. I could do No other than this way advise the king Against the race of G.o.dwin. Is it possible That mortal men should bear their earthly heats Into yon bloodless world, and threaten us thence Unschool'd of Death? Thus then thou art revenged-- I left our England naked to the South To meet thee in the North. The Norseman's raid Hath helpt the Norman, and the race of G.o.dwin Hath ruin'd G.o.dwin. No--our waking thoughts Suffer a stormless shipwreck in the pools Of sullen slumber, and arise again Disjointed: only dreams--where mine own self Takes part against myself! Why? for a spark Of self-disdain born in me when I sware Falsely to him, the falser Norman, over His gilded ark of mummy-saints, by whom I knew not that I sware,--not for myself-- For England--yet not wholly--

_Enter_ EDITH.

Edith, Edith, Get thou into thy cloister as the king Will'd it: be safe: the perjury-mongering Count Hath made too good an use of Holy Church To break her close! There the great G.o.d of truth Fill all thine hours with peace!--A lying devil Hath haunted me--mine oath--my wife--I fain Had made my marriage not a lie; I could not: Thou art my bride! and thou in after years Praying perchance for this poor soul of mine In cold, white cells beneath an icy moon-- This memory to thee!--and this to England, My legacy of war against the Pope From child to child, from Pope to Pope, from age to age, Till the sea wash her level with her sh.o.r.es, Or till the Pope be Christ's.

_Enter_ ALDWYTH.

ALDWYTH (_to_ EDITH). Away from him!

EDITH. I will.... I have not spoken to the king One word; and one I must. Farewell! [_Going_.

HAROLD. Not yet.

Stay.

EDITH. To what use?

HAROLD. The king commands thee, woman!

(_To_ ALDWYTH.) Have thy two brethren sent their forces in?

ALDWYTH. Nay, I fear not.

HAROLD. Then there's no force in thee!

Thou didst possess thyself of Edward's ear To part me from the woman that I loved!

Thou didst arouse the fierce Northumbrians!

Thou hast been false to England and to me!-- As ... in some sort ... I have been false to thee.

Leave me. No more--Pardon on both sides--Go!

ALDWYTH. Alas, my lord, I loved thee.