[_The music begins to play and all those on the green form themselves for the dance_. LORD CULLEN _and_ SUSAN _stand side by side in front of the dais_, _and the_ GRANDMOTHER _lights a pipe and smokes it as she watches the dance from below_. _At the end of the dance_ LORD CULLEN, _leading_ SUSAN, _comes down from the dais and_, _followed by_ LADY CULLEN _and her ladies_, _passes between two lines of girls and so off the stage_. _The girls follow in procession_, _and lastly the_ GRANDMOTHER _preceded by_ JOCKIE, _beating his drum_. [_Curtain_.] THE SEEDS OF LOVE CHARACTERS JOHN DANIEL, _aged_ 30, _a Miller_. ROSE-ANNA _his sister_. KITTY, _aged_ 16, _his sister_. ROBERT PEARCE, _aged_ 26. LIZ, JANE _elderly cousins of Robert_. JEREMY, _John’s servant—of middle age_. MARY MEADOWS, _aged_ 24, _a Herbalist_. LUBIN. ISABEL. _The time is Midsummer_. ACT I _A woodland road outside_ MARY’S _cottage_. _There are rough seats in the porch and in front of the window_. _Bunches of leaves and herbs hang drying around door and window_. MARY _is heard singing within_. MARY. [_Singing_.] I sowed the seeds of Love, And I sowed them in the Spring. I gathered them up in the morning so soon. While the sweet birds so sweetly sing, While the sweet birds so sweetly sing. {2} [MARY _comes out of the cottage_, _a bundle of enchanter’s nightshade in her arms_. _She hangs it by a string to the wall and then goes indoors_. MARY. [_Singing_.] The violet I did not like, Because it bloomed so soon; The lily and the pink I really over think, So I vowed I would wait till June, So I vowed I would wait till June. [_During the singing_ LUBIN _comes slowly and heavily along the road_. _He wears the dress of a farm labourer and carries a scythe over his shoulder_. _In front of the cottage he pauses_, _looks round doubtfully_, _and then sits stiffly and wearily down on the bench beneath the window_. MARY. [_Coming to the doorway with more plants and singing_.] “For the grass that has oftentimes been trampled underfoot, Give it time, it will rise up again.” LUBIN. [_Looking up gloomily_.] And that it won’t, mistress. MARY. [_Suddenly perceiving him and coming out_.] O you are fair spent from journeying. Can I do anything for you, master? LUBIN. [_Gazing at her fixedly_.] You speak kindly for a stranger, but ’tis beyond the power of you nor anyone to do aught for me. MARY. [_Sitting down beside him and pointing to the wall of the house_.] See those leaves and flowers drying in the sun? There’s medicine for every sort of sickness there, sir. LUBIN. There’s not a root nor yet a herb on the face of the earth that could cure the sickness I have within me. MARY. That must be a terrible sort of a sickness, master. LUBIN. So ’tis. ’Tis love. MARY. Love?