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 (passionately).
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.]