I will mix it well with honey and herb Sweet as the mead our fathers drank, and dreamed Their gods so drank in heaven—draughts deep and strong As life is strong and death is deep. I go To bid Narsetes hither. [_Exit_. ALBOVINE. Nay, by God, Whoever God be, never Christ or Thor Beheld or blessed a nobler wife, whose love Was found through proof of purity by fire More like our northern stars and snows and suns, And sane in strong sufficiency of soul As womanhood by godhead from the womb Elected and exalted. _Enter_ NARSETES. NARSETES. King, thy wife Hath given me back thy message given her. ALBOVINE. Ay? And thou hast given her back my cup, then? NARSETES. King, I have given it. Loth to give it if I were, Ye know: she knows as thou: thou knowest as she. ALBOVINE. What ails thee to distaste thy duty? Man, Thou shouldst be glad, being loyal. Knowest thou not Her will it was that we should pledge therein To-night, this hour, our lifelong love, and seal it More surely so than priest or prayer can seal? NARSETES. Her will it was, I know, not thine. I would Thou hadst not yielded up to hers thy will. ALBOVINE. Thou liest: I have not yielded it: I have given Love, willing as the springtide sea gives up Her will to the eastern sea-wind’s. NARSETES. Love should give No more than love should crave of love: and this Is such a gift as hate might crave of death Or priests of God when angered. ALBOVINE. Hark thee, man. Thou art old, and when I loved thee first and found thee My lord and leader down the ways of war, My master born by right of manfulness And steersman through the surf of battle, time Gaped as a gulf between us: sire and son We might be: now I bid thee hold thy peace, Lest all these memories perish, and their death Give life more strong than theirs to wrath, and leave thee Shelterless as a waif of the air when storm Drives bird and beast to deathward. What I bade thee I bid thee do, and leave me. NARSETES. King, I go. [_Exit_. ALBOVINE.