1st Baron.
Take heed unto thy queen, Lord Ganelun,
Unless thou willingly dost sacrifice
Her to my pawns, as Mark gave Queen Iseult
Unto his lepers!

Ganelun.
Wait! for see, I move
My bishop back.

2d Baron.
Check! Dinas, check and mate!
Thou mad'st it easy, friend. Thou never shouldst
Have sacrificed the knight, for thus my rook
Escaped, attacking thee.

Dinas.
Forgive; my thoughts
Were troubled, ay, and wandered from the game.

[Two knights come in from the courtyard.]

1st Knight.
I cannot make one ray of sense from all
These strange occurrences, my Lords! I greet
Thee, Ganelun!

[Shakes hands with the Barons.]

2nd Knight (shaking hands).
At chess! At chess my Lords!
Your blood must run full slowly in your veins!

[Comes forward.]

Ganelun.
King Mark has bid us play, and order'd wine
For us to drink, since otherwise 'twould be
A dull and sombre evening here tonight
Within the castle hall, for Queen Iseult,
I ween, will stay in her retirement.

1st Knight.
King Mark bade us come hither too.

Ugrin.
"Oh God!
Men! Men! Bring lights and let me see the face
Of human beings 'round about!" So cried
My cousin Mark not half an hour agone,
As one on whom the mirth of loneliness
Falls all too heavily!

2d Baron.
What think ye, Lords,
Of this most wondrous thing?

2d Knight.
And do ye know
That Kaad, King Mark's old stable groom, beheld
St. George leap from the battlement where wall
And rock drop off an hundred fathom sheer?

[The Barons stand up and crowd about him.]

1st Baron.
St. George?

Ganelun.
What's that thou say'st?

Dinas.
Dost thou know more?

2d Knight.
I know but what old Kaad himself recounts;
That, as he led Mark's charger down to drink,
There suddenly appeared before his eyes
The lofty shape of good St. George, erect,
Upon the wall!

1st Baron (crossing himself).
God save my soul!

2d Baron.
And then?
What happened then?

2d Knight.
Kaad thought at first
He was some mortal man and cried to him
To heed; but in that selfsame moment leapt
The holy knight, and cleared the wall, and fell
The hundred fathoms. But when Kaad ran up,
With all the speed he might unto the spot,
St. George had vanished and had left no trace.

1st Baron.
No trace?

2d Baron.
'Tis strange!

Dinas.
A wondrous thing!

Ganelun.
But say,
By what did Kaad first recognize the saint?

2d Knight.
I know not, but he says 'twas he; and all
The people, are rejoicing at this new
And wondrous miracle of good St. George.

1st Knight.
What says King Mark about this miracle,
This saving of the Queen by God Himself?
Hast seen him, Dinas?

Dinas (returning to the table). Ay, his heart and mind
Are heavy and his soul distressed.

2d Knight.
And Queen
Iseult?

1st Knight.
What said the King of her?

Ganelun.
The King
Refused to see her, or to speak with her,
Since neither dares to speak of this foul deed
Which has occurred; its memory still throbs,
And tingling flows throughout their blood.

2d Baron.
And yet
He sent the Queen, and without message too,
The head that pledged a perjured oath today,
Upon a silver shield. And well he did.

2d Knight.
My Lord Denovalin a victim fell
Unto a saintly and a holy hand,
But died ingloriously!

Dinas.
As he deserved
So died he. Sir.

[The Barons and Knights sit down again
at the table. King Mark, unnoticed by
the others, comes slowly down the steps,
and walks about. He is oppressed and
agitated. At length he stops, and, leaning
against the end post of the bannister,
listens to the conversation of the others.]

1st Knight.
A leper has been stoned
Because he cried throughout Lubin that 'twas
The devil who had done the thing.

Dinas.
Such leaps
By God or devil can alone be done.

Ganelun.
'Tis true, my Lords, no mortal man can spring
An hundred fathoms.

[Mark steps up to the table and lays his
arm about Dinas' neck.]