Ringan. What deity is this? whose bride? whose queen? Look, how she sits among these earthly maids, A star between two lamps. She looks at me With eyes like beckoning flames. A kind of night Hovers about her, she so dazzles day. She bends toward me; she stretches out her arms; A tear, a molten tear wells in each eye, And overhangs the lid and slowly falls, Loth to descend these tender wistful heavens. Her lips are open, but her struggling voice, A helpless, still-born sigh, dies in her mouth. I hope I may have strength to speak to her. [He kneels before Annie Smith. Annie. O Ringan--Ringan Deane! Ringan. You know me, then! Annie [embracing him]. O, Ringan, I am Annie--Annie Smith! Bellona. Clown, this is very well. I am so moved; I feel a kindliness to all the world. Clown. And I am of the world. Bellona. Ay, so you are. Re-enter Sir James, Lady Montgomery, and the others. Bellona. Well, noble earl? What!--wonders? Edmund. Yes, indeed, Most wonderful. Bellona. Sit, then, and tell us. See, The feast is spread. Edmund. We'll tell you when we sit; But there's a thing to do before we sit.-- Ladies and gentlemen, a little way We've stepped beyond convention. I propose A further deviation from the path Beaten by ages, dusty with the trade Of thronging use and wont. The Scottish law Permits us here to marry as we are: Let us be married--are we not all paired? And this same feast shall be our wedding-feast. Do you object, Sir James? Sir James. Why should I, sir? Edmund. Then, May Montgomery, will you know me yet? May. I am in a dream. One mystery at a time. However came you by my proper name? Edmund. That is the strangest accident of all: I was a prophet when I wrote my book.-- Sweet May Montgomery, I take you for my wife In sight of heaven and you, astonished friends. May. I take you for my husband. Antinous. I take you, Herminia, for my wife. Herminia. And I take you, Antinous, for my husband. [Aside to Ant.] Dear old Jack. Bellona. My name is Mary Jones. Clown. So? Ha! Then I, James Jocelyn, take you to be my wife. Bellona. I love you, and I take you for my husband. Mercer. My dearest wife, you'll be my bride again? Mary-Jane. Surely, my husband. Sir James. This is bravely done! My wife and I bid heaven's blessing on you. Mary-Jane. But where are Annie Smith and Ringan Deane? May. I saw them, like a vision, steal away. Curtain. BRUCE: A CHRONICLE PLAY (Glasgow, 1884)