________________________________________________
_
EUSTACE, THURSTON, and followers of HUGO. HAROLD.Enter, by the hall door, HUGO, ERIC, and THORA.
Eustace
(and others standing up):
Welcome, Lord Hugo!
Hugo.
Welcome or not,
Thanks for your greeting all.
Ha, Eustace! what complaints hast thou got?
What grievances to recall?
Eustace.
Count William came with a numerous band,
Ere the snows began to fall,
And slew a buck on your lordship's land,
Within a league of the wall.
Hugo.
Count William has done to us no more
Than we to him. In his vineyard
Last summer, or later, maybe, a boar
Was slaughter'd by Thurston's whinyard.
Thurston.
Aye, Hugo! But William kept the buck,
I will wager marks a score,
Though the tale is new to me; and, worse luck,
You made me give back the boar.
Harold
(advancing):
Lord Hugo!
Hugo.
What! Art thou living yet?
I scarcely knew thee, Sir Dane!
And 'tis not so very long since we met.
Harold.
'Twill be long ere we meet again.
(gives a letter)
This letter was traced by one now dead
In the Holy Land; and I
Must wait till his dying request is read,
And in his name ask the reply.
Thora
(aside):
Who is that stranger, Hugo?
Hugo.
By birth
He is a countryman of thine,
Thora. What writing is this on earth?
I can scarce decipher a line.
Harold.
The pen in the clutch of death works ill.
Hugo.
Nay, I read now; the letters run
More clearly.
Harold.
Wilt grant the request?
Hugo.
I will.
Harold.
Enough! Then my task is done.
(He holds out his hand.)
Hugo, I go to a far-off land,
Wilt thou say, "God speed thee!" now?
Hugo.
Sir Harold, I cannot take thy hand,
Because of my ancient vow.
Harold.
Farewell, then.
Thora.
Friend, till the morning wait.
On so wild a night as this
Thou shalt not go from my husband's gate;
The path thou wilt surely miss.
Harold.
I go. Kind lady, some future day
Thy care will requited be.
Thora.
Speak, Hugo, speak.
Hugo.
He may go or stay,
It matters little to me.
[Harold goes out.]
Thora.
Husband, that man is ill and weak;
On foot he goes and alone
Through a barren moor in a night-storm bleak.
Eric.
Now I wonder where he has gone!
Hugo.
Indeed, I have not the least idea;
The man is certainly mad.
He wedded my sister, Dorothea,
And used her cruelly bad.
He was once my firmest and surest friend,
And once my deadliest foe;
But hate and friendship both find their end--
Now I heed not where he may go. _
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