Has got a starrier eye.
Third Ret.
His eyes are blue
But leave my hawks alone !
Fourth Ret.
So young, and yet
So tall and shapely!
Fifth Ret. Here's Lord Tresham's self !
There now there's what a nobleman should be !
He's older, graver, loftier, he's more like
A House's head !
Second Ret. But you'd not have a boy –
And what's the Earl beside? possess too soon
That stateliness?
First Ret. Our master takes his hand Richard and his white staff are on the move — Back fall our people — tsh ! there's Timothy Sure to get tangled in his ribbon-ties And Peter's cursed rosette's a-coming off!At last I see our lord's back and his friend's And the whole beautiful bright company Close round them — in they go ! [Jumping down from the window-bench, and making for the table and its jugs.]
Good health, long life,
Great joy to our Lord Tresham and his House !
Sixth Ret. My father drove his father first to court,
After his marriage-day-ay, did he !
Second Ret.
God bless
Lord Tresham, Lady Mildred, and the Earl !
Here, Gerard, reach your beaker !
Ger.
Drink, my boys !
Don't mind me -all's not right about me drink !
Second Ret. [Aside.] He's vexed now, that he let the show
escape ! [To Ger.] Remember that the Earl returns this way. Ger. That way? Second Ret. Just so. Ger.
Then my way's here. [Goes. Second Ret.
Old Gerard Will die soon mind, I said it! He was used To care about the pitifullest thing That touched the House's honour, not an eye But his could see wherein : and on a cause Of scarce a quarter this importance, Gerard Fairly had fretted flesh and bone away In cares that this was right, nor that was wrong, Such point decorous, and such square by rule —
He knew such niceties, no herald more;
And now
you see his humour: die he will !
Second Ret. God help him! Who's for the great servants'
hall
To hear what's going on inside? They'd follow
Lord Tresham into the saloon.
Third Ret.
I!-
Fourth Ret.
I!-
Leave Frank alone for catching at the door
Some hint of how the parley goes inside !
Prosperity to the great House once more !
Here's the last drop !
First Ret.
Have at you ! Boys, hurrah !
SCENE II.-A SALOON IN THE MANSION
Enter LORD TRESHAM, LORD MERTOUN, AUSTIN, and GUENDOLEN.
Tres. I welcome you, Lord Mertoun, yet once more,
To this ancestral roof of mine. Your name
Noble among the noblest in itself,
Yet taking in your person, fame avers,
New price and lustre — as that gem you wear,
Transmitted from a hundred knightly breasts,
Fresh chased and set and fixed by its last lord,
Seems to rekindle at the core
your name
Would win you welcome !
Mer.
Thanks!
Tres.
But add to that,
The worthiness and grace and dignity
Of your proposal for uniting both
Our Houses even closer than respect
Unites them now add these, and you must grant
One favour more, nor that the least, to think
The welcome I should give ; - 't is given ! My lord,
My only brother, Austin - he's the king's.
Our cousin, Lady Guendolen — betrothed
To Austin : all are yours.
Mer.
less
For the express commendings which your seal,
And only that, authenticates forbids
My putting from me — to my heart I take
Your praise - but praise less claims my gratitude,
Than the indulgent insight it implies
Of what must needs be uppermost with one
Who comes, like me, with the bare leave to ask,
In weighed and measured unimpassioned words,
A gift, which, if as calmly 't is denied,
He must withdraw, content upon his cheek,
Despair within his soul. That I dare ask
Firmly, near boldly, near with confidence,
That gift, I have to thank you. Yes, Lord Tresham,
I love your sister as you'd have one love
That lady oh! more, more I love her! Wealth,
Rank, all the world thinks me, they're yours, you know,
To hold or part with, at your choice
My true self, me without a rood of land,
A piece of gold, a name of yesterday,
Grant me that lady, and you Death or life?
Guen. [ Apart to Aus.] Why, this is loving, Austin !
Aus.
He's so young! Guen. Young? Old enough, I think, to half surmise He never had obtained an entrance here, Were all this fear and trembling needed. Aus.
Hush !
He reddens.
Guen. Mark him, Austin; that's true love !
Ours must begin again.
Tres.
We'll sit, my lord.
Ever with best desert
goes
diffidence.
I may speak plainly nor be misconceived.
That I am wholly satisfied with you
On this occasion, when a falcon's eye
Were dull compared with mine to search out faults,
Is somewhat. Mildred's hand is hers to give
Or to refuse.
Mer. But you, you grant my suit?
I have your word if hers?
Tres.
My best of words
If hers encourage you. I trust it will.
Have you seen Lady Mildred, by the way?
Mer. I-1- our two demesnes, remember, touch;
I have been used to wander carelessly
After stricken
game : the heron roused
Deep in my woods, has trailed its broken wing
Thro’ thicks and glades a mile in yours,
Some eyass ill-reclaimed has taken flight
And lured me after her from tree to tree,
I marked not whither. I have come upon
The lady's wondrous beauty unaware,
And — and then — I have seen her.
Guen. [Aside to Aus.] Note that mode
Of faltering out that, when a lady passed,
He, having eyes, did see her! You had said -
“On such a day I scanned her, head to foot;
Observed a red, where red should not have been,
Outside her elbow; but was pleased enough
Upon the whole." Let such irreverent talk
Be lessened for the future !
Tres.
What's to say
May be said briefly. She has never known
A mother's care; I stand for father too.
Her beauty is not strange to you, it seems —
You can not know the good and tender heart,
Its girl's trust and its woman's constancy,
How pure yet passionate, how calm yet kind,
How grave yet joyous, how reserved yet free
As light where friends are — how imbued with lore
The world most prizes, yet the simplest, yet
The one might know I talked of Mildred - thus
We brothers talk !
Mer.
Tres.
In a word,
Control 's not for this lady; but her wish
To please me outstrips in its subtlety
My power of being pleased : herself creates
The want she means to satisfy. My heart
Prefers your suit to her as 't were its own.
Can I say more?
Mer. No more
- thanks, thanks no more!
Tres. This matter then discussed
Mer.
We'll waste no breath
On aught less precious. I'm beneath the roof
Which holds her: while I thought of that, my speech
To you would wander — as it must not do,
Since as you favour me I stand or fall.
I pray you suffer that I take my leave !
Tres. With less regret 't is suffered, that again
We meet, I hope, so shortly.
Mer.
We? again?
Ah! yes, forgive me - when shall — you will crown
Your goodness by forthwith apprising me
When - if- the lady will appoint a day
For me to wait on you — and her.
Tres.
So soon
As I am made acquainted with her thoughts
On your proposal — howsoe'er they lean-
A messenger shall bring you the result.
Mer. You can not bind me more to you, my lord.
Farewell till we renew I trust, renew
A converse ne'er to disunite again.
Tres. So may it prove !
Mer.
You, lady, you, sir, take
My humble salutation !
Guen, and Aus. Thanks!
Tres.
Within there ! [Servants enter. TRESHAM conducts MERTOUN to the door. Meantime AUSTIN remarks:
Well,
Here I have an advantage of the Earl,
Confess now! I'd not think that all was safe
Because my lady's brother stood my friend !
Why, he makes sure of her — "do you say, yes-
She'll not say no," — what comes it to beside?
I should have prayed the brother, “speak this speech,
For Heaven's sake urge this on her — put in this
Forget not, as you'd save me, t'other thing, -
Then set down what she says, and how she looks,
And if she smiles, and" — in an under breath
“Only let her accept me, and do you
And all the world refuse me, if you dare !”
Guen. That way you 'd take, friend Austin? What a shame
I was your cousin, tamely from the first
Your bride, and all this fervour's run to waste !
Do you know you speak sensibly to-day?
The Earl's a fool.
Aus.
Here's Thorold. Tell him so !
Tres. [Returning.] Now, voices, voices! 'St ! the lady's
first !
How seems he? seems he not — come, faith give fraud
The mercy-stroke whenever they engage !
Down with fraud, up with faith! How seems the Earl ?
A name! a blazon! if you knew their worth,
As you
will never ! come the Earl?
Guen.
Tres. What's she? an infant save in heart and brain.
Young! Mildred is fourteen, remark! And you —
Austin, how old is she?
Guen.
There's tact for you !
I meant that being young was good excuse
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