MARIE BRUIN Oh, take me with you. (SHAWN BRUIN _goes over to her._) SHAWN BRUIN Beloved, do not leave me! Remember when I met you by the well And took your hand in mine and spoke of love. MARIE BRUIN Dear face! Dear voice! THE CHILD Come, newly married bride! MARIE BRUIN I always loved her world--and yet--and yet-- (_Sinks into his arms._) THE CHILD (_from the door_) White bird, white bird, come with me, little bird. MARIE BRUIN She calls to me! THE CHILD Come with me, little bird! MARIE BRUIN I can hear songs and dancing! SHAWN BRUIN Stay with me! MARIE BRUIN I think that I would stay--and yet--and yet-- THE CHILD Come, little bird with crest of gold! MARIE BRUIN (_very softly_) And yet-- THE CHILD Come, little bird with silver feet! (MAIRE _dies, and the child goes._) SHAWN BRUIN She is dead! BRIDGET BRUIN Come from that image: body and soul are gone. You have thrown your arms about a drift of leaves Or bole of an ash tree changed into her image. FATHER HART Thus do the spirits of evil snatch their prey Almost out of the very hand of God; And day by day their power is more and more, And men and women leave old paths, for pride Comes knocking with thin knuckles on the heart. A VOICE (_singing outside_) The wind blows out of the gates of the day, The wind blows over the lonely of heart, And the lonely of heart is withered away While the faeries dance in a place apart, Shaking their milk-white feet in a ring, Tossing their milk-white arms in the air; For they hear the wind laugh and murmur and sing Of a land where even the old are fair, And even the wise are merry of tongue; But I heard a reed of Coolaney say, "When the wind has laughed and murmured and sung, The lonely of heart is withered away." (_The song is taken up by many voices, who sing loudly, as if in triumph. Some of the voices seem to come from within the house._) [CURTAIN] THE RIDING TO LITHEND[1] Gordon Bottomley [Footnote 1: This play is reprinted by permission of and by arrangement with Constable and Company, Limited, London.] CHARACTERS