Brangaene disappears above; the Strange Jester cowers motionless, his head buried in his hands. After a moment Iseult, in a white night robe, comes down the stairs with Brangaene. She steps close in front of the Jester, who does not move. Brangaene remains on the lowest step, leaning against the post of the bannister.

Iseult.
Thou gruesome fool, art thou some bird of prey.
Some wolf that comes to feed upon my soul?
Wilt thou not go? Why liest thou in wait
For me here in the dawning light like some
Wild beast that waits its quarry?

Str. Jester (looking up heavily).
Queen Iseult!
Oh dearest, fairest, sweetest one!

Iseult.
How dar'st
Thou call me by such names! My boiling blood
Turns cold and shudders! Go!

Str. Jester (groaning softly).
Where, lady, can
I find a sea whose endless depths are deep
Enough to drown my bitter misery?
Where? Tell me where, and I will go.

Iseult.
Go where
Thou wilt, so it be far away—so far
That the whole world shall sever thee and me,
And shall divide me from thy woe! My soul
Bleeds like an unheal'd wound when thou art near.
As though thou wert its murderer, and lo,
'Twill bleed to death from thy propinquity,
Thou fool! Hence, go, but give me first the ring
Thou stol'st last night and which in wanton jest
Thou torest from the hand of yon dead Knight.
It is Lord Tristram's ring.

Str. Jester.
Ay, Queen Iseult,
The ring is his—above all other things
He values it!

Iseult.
Give me the ring, else shalt
Thou die! I'll have thee slain, I swear, as sure
As I have suffered all this night such pangs
As suffered Mary at the cross of Christ.

Str. Jester (standing up).
The ring is mine! I gave it yonder man
To cherish like his life.—He's died for thee
And me;—I gave him too my soul to guard
That by this ring he might compel and bring
Thee to me in the wood tonight. Oh, 'twas
An evil hour for us both, Iseult,
That Lord Denovalin rode through the wood
Today. Now, answer me, Iseult, wilt thou
Still keep the oath thou sware to Tristram once?

Iseult (fixedly).
I'll break no oath that I have sworn, for God
Has sanctioned all my vows.

Str. Jester.
Then call I thee,
Iseult the Goldenhaired, in Tristram's name,
And by this ring. [He hands her the ring.]

Iseult.
Knowst thou that oath as well.
Thou ghost!

(Solemnly.)

Oh God, here in this hand, grown pale
And hot from resting on my heart all night,
I hold the ring of gold and emerald stone
By which I sware to Tristram to obey
His will, and come to him when one should call
Upon me by this ring and in his name!
Lo, thou hast called upon me; I obey!
What wishest thou of me, thou evil ghost
With hollow sunken eyes? What wouldst thou have.
Thou spectre of the twilight gloom?

Str. Jester.
I call
On thee, Iseult, my love, in my distress!
Oh know me now, who was thy lover once!

Iseult.
Thou suck'st my blood!

Str. Jester.
Thy blood was mine! Thy blood
Was once mine own! It was a crimson trust
reposing in my knightly hands to keep
Irrevocably until Death. And where
Thou goest there go I; and where thou stayst
There stay I too. So spoke thy blood—I come
To claim but what is mine.

Iseult (in great passion).
What have I done
To thee that thou recountest my past life
As 'twere a mocking song? Who art thou, fool?
Who art thou? Speak? I'm knocking at thy soul
As knocks a dead man's soul outside the gates
Of Paradise! Who art thou, fool? Art thou
Magician? Art thou ghost? Art thou some soul
Forever wandering for some evil deed?
Art thou some faithless lover barred from Heav'n
And Hell eternally, whose punishment
It is to wander restless through the world
Forever begging love from women's hearts?
Did God permit that thou shouldst know what none,
Save only Tristram and myself have known?
That thou shouldst taste of bitter torment still
By thinking thou art Tristram and shouldst thus
Make greater expiation for thy sins?

Str. Jester.
I am a faithless lover who has loved
Most faithfully, Iseult, belovÈd one!

Iseult.
Why criest thou my name unceasingly,
As scream enhungered owls, thou pallid fool?
Why starest thou at me with eyes that tears
And pain have rendered pitiless? I know
Naught of thy grief and am no leech to cure
Thy fool's disease!

Str. Jester.
Iseult!

Iseult (in growing agitation).
Shall I shave off
My hair as thou hast done? Shall I too wear
A jester's parti-colored garb? Shall I
Go through the land, and howling in the streets
Bawl out Lord Tristram's name to make the throng
Of greasy knaves laugh? Speak? Is this the cure
Thou needest for thy grief? Does Tristram mock
Me through thy ribald wit? Does he revenge
Himself upon me thus because I loved
Him long before he saw Iseult, the Fair
Whitehanded Queen, and gave my soul and blood
To him? In scornful and in bitter words
Has he revealed our secret love to thee?
Has he betrayed me to his wife? Art thou
In league with her? Has her black spirit sent
Thee here to torture me by raising up
The phantom images of that past life
Which once I knew, but which is dead?
Confess!
And! I will load thee down with precious gifts,
And daily pray for thee! I'll line thy way
With servants and I'll honor thee as though
Thou wert of royal blood where e'er thou art!

[She falls on her knees.]

Release my soul, thou fool, before I turn
A fool from very horror and from dread!

Str. Jester (raising her).
Kneel not to me, Beloved One! Arise!

Iseult (remains a moment in his arms and then draws
away shuddering).
When Tristram called, the Heavens echoed back
A golden peal, as echoes through the land
The music of a golden bell; the world rejoiced
And from its depths sprang up sweet sounds of joy.
And with them danced my heart exultingly!
When Tristram stood beside me, all the air
Was wont to quiver with a secret bliss
That made the beasts move 'round uneasily.
The birds sang in the dead of night and so
Betrayed us! Say, who broke the bond that knit
Our kindred souls in one?

Str. Jester.
Lord Tristram broke
The bond and, faithless, took another wife!
Oh see, Iseult, how great the wrong he did
Us both!

Iseult (looking at him fixedly).
I hear a raven's croak; I feel
The icy breath of some strange body when
Thou standest burning by my side, thou fool!
Thou pallid ghost!

Str. Jester.
Yet hast thou oft embraced
These limbs upon the journey o'er the wide
And purple sea along the starry way
Of our great happiness—just thou and I,
Alone in blissful loneliness! And thou
Hast often listened to this voice when it.
In the deep forest, called the nightingales,
Alluring them to sing above thy head,
And like them whispered in thine ears
Soft words that made a wave of passion flow,
Sweet and voluptuous, through thy burning veins!
Iseult, shall I repeat those words? Wilt thou
Again go wandering through the world
With singing blood that makes our hearts beat high
In perfect unison of love, with souls that dream
In silent happiness?

Iseult.
Lord Tristram's steps
Beside me made my blood soar heavenward
And bore me up until the earth bowed down,
And bent beneath our feet like surging waves,
And carried us like lofty ships that sail
To victory!

Str. Jester.
Ay, Ay, Iseult, 'Twas so we walked!
Iseult, art thou still mindful of the day
When, hawk on fist, we galloped o'er the downs,
For Mark was with Lord Dinas on that day?
Dost thou remember how I lifted thee
From thy good steed and placed thee on mine own,
And held thee close embraced, while thou didst cling
To me like some fond child.

Iseult.
And Tristram, bold
In the intoxication of his love,
Let go the reins, and gave his horse the spurs,
Till, like an arrow in full flight, it clove
The golden air and bore us heavenward!
How often have I dreamed of that wild ride.
And now with Isot of the Fair White Hands
He rides, as formerly with me—!

Str. Jester.
And shall
I sing to thee, Iseult the Goldenhaired,
The lay of that White-handed wife who sits
And grieves by day and night? It is the sad
And sombre song of my great guilt. Her eyes
Are red from weeping—!

Iseult.
Ay, and mine are red
From weeping too! Fool, Fool, why mock'st thou me?
But since thou knowst so much of Tristram, tell
Me this; why did Lord Tristram marry her—,
This Isot of the Fair White Hands?

Str. Jester (slowly and painfully).
There plays
About her mouth a silver smile; this smile
Enchanted him one lonely night. But, when,
At cold gray dawn, he heard her called Iseult
He nigh went mad with sorrow and with joy
From thinking of the real Iseult—of her,
The Goldenhaired—the beautiful, about
Whose mouth there plays a golden smile. Then, sick
At heart, and weary of this life, he wished
To die, until his sorrow drove him here,
To Cornwall, once again to see his love
Before he died and, face to face stand once
Again with her!—The rest thou knowest well.

Iseult (angrily).
Ay, fool, I know the rest, and I know too
That for these black and loathsome lies of thine
There's one reward!—And that is death! I'll put
An end to my great suffering! If thou
Art Tristram thou shalt live, and, in mine arms,
That yearn for Tristram, thou shalt find a hot
And passionate forgetfulness of cool
And silver smiles thou fledest from! If thou
Hast lied no longer shalt thou dream at night
Of golden and of silver smiles!

(To Brangaene. )

Go fetch
The key, Brangaene, of the upper cell!

Brangaene (horrified).
Iseult, what wouldst thou do?

Iseult.
Obey me, girl!
Now listen, spectre, to my words. There lives
Within these walls a hound who has become
A wild and raging beast from his great love
For Tristram, once his master. Fool, this dog
Is full as savage as a fierce white wolf
That lusts for human flesh; his food is thrust
Into his cage on sticks. Since Tristram left,
The beast has slain three keepers. Fool, what think'st
Thou of this hound? Would he attack and tear
Lord Tristram like a wolf should Tristram chance
To step within his cage?

Str. Jester (rising, tall, determined, and noble).
Oh Queen Iseult—!
Oh Queen Iseult—! Old Husdent ever was
My faithful hound—. Let me go to him now.

Iseult (starting back).
Thou knowst his name—!

Str. Jester.
Brangaene, lead the fool.
Obey thy mistress's command. Thou needst
Not lead me to the cage! I know the way.
Give me the key!

[He snatches the key from Brangaene's
hand and disappears with long strides
behind the stairs. He is erect and proud.
The two women stand looking at each
other amazed and motionless.]