And then--remembering that old Edward the Confessor had told him on his deathbed that he should die by an arrow--his hope faints. The king’s last word--“the arrow,” I shall die: I die for England then, who lived for England. What nobler? Man must die. I cannot fall into a falser world-- I have done no man wrong.… Edith (his betrothed) comes in-- Edith!--Edith! Get thou into thy cloister, as the king Will’d it: … There, the great God of Truth Fill all thine hours with peace! A lying Devil Hath haunted me--mine oath--my wife--I fain Had made my marriage not a lie; I could not: Thou art my bride! and thou, in after years, Praying perchance for this poor soul of mine In cold, white cells, beneath an icy moon. This memory to thee!--and this to England, My legacy of war against the Pope, From child to child, from Pope to Pope, from Age to Age, Till the sea wash her level with her shores, Or till the Pope be Christ’s. Aldwyth, the queen, glides in, and seeing Edith, says-- Away from him! Away! Edith says (we can imagine her sweet plaintiveness)-- I will.… I have not spoken to the king One word: and one I must. Farewell! And she offers to go. But Harold, beckoning with a grand gesture of authority-- Not yet! Stay! The king commands thee, woman! And he turns to Aldwyth, from whose kinsmen he had expected aid-- Have thy two brethren sent their forces in? _Aldwyth_--Nay, I fear not. And Harold blazes upon her-- Then there’s no force in thee! Thou didst possess thyself of Edward’s ear To part me from the woman that I loved. … Thou hast been false to England and to me! As--in some sort--I have been false to thee. Leave me. No more.--Pardon on both sides.--Go! _Aldwyth_--Alas, my lord, I loved thee! O Harold! husband! Shall we meet again? _Harold_--After the battle--after the battle. Go. _Aldwyth_--I go. (_Aside._) That I could stab her standing there! (_Exit Aldwyth._) _Edith_--Alas, my lord, she loved thee. _Harold_-- Never! never! _Edith_--I saw it in her eyes! _Harold_-- I see it in thine! And not on thee--nor England--fall God’s doom! _Edith_--On _thee_? on me. And thou art England! Alfred Was England. Ethelred was nothing. England Is but her king, as thou art Harold! _Harold_-- Edith, The sign in Heaven--the sudden blast at sea-- My fatal oath--the dead saints--the dark dreams-- The Pope’s Anathema--the Holy Rood That bow’d to me at Waltham--Edith, if I, the last English King of England---- _Edith_-- No, First of a line that coming from the people, And chosen by the people----