I may enter at her portal soon, as now her lattice takes me, And by noontide as by midnight make her mine, as hers she makes me! [The EARL throws off his slouched hat and long cloak.] My very heart sings, so I sing, Beloved! MILDRED. Sit, Henry--do not take my hand! MERTOUN. 'Tis mine. The meeting that appalled us both so much Is ended. MILDRED. What begins now? MERTOUN. Happiness Such as the world contains not. MILDRED. That is it. Our happiness would, as you say, exceed The whole world's best of blisses: we--do we Deserve that? Utter to your soul, what mine Long since, Beloved, has grown used to hear, Like a death-knell, so much regarded once, And so familiar now; this will not be! MERTOUN. Oh, Mildred, have I met your brother's face? Compelled myself--if not to speak untruth, Yet to disguise, to shun, to put aside The truth, as--what had e'er prevailed on me Save you to venture? Have I gained at last Your brother, the one scarer of your dreams, And waking thoughts' sole apprehension too? Does a new life, like a young sunrise, break On the strange unrest of our night, confused With rain and stormy flaw--and will you see No dripping blossoms, no fire-tinted drops On each live spray, no vapour steaming up, And no expressless glory in the East? When I am by you, to be ever by you, When I have won you and may worship you, Oh, Mildred, can you say "this will not be"? MILDRED. Sin has surprised us, so will punishment. MERTOUN. No--me alone, who sinned alone! MILDRED. The night You likened our past life to--was it storm Throughout to you then, Henry? MERTOUN. Of your life I spoke--what am I, what my life, to waste A thought about when you are by me?--you It was, I said my folly called the storm And pulled the night upon. 'Twas day with me-- Perpetual dawn with me. MILDRED. Come what, come will, You have been happy: take my hand! MERTOUN [after a pause]. How good Your brother is! I figured him a cold-- Shall I say, haughty man? MILDRED. They told me all. I know all. MERTOUN. It will soon be over.