We need but hover over her head in the air, For she has only minutes: when she came I saw the dimness of the tomb in her, And marked her walking as with leaden shoes And looking on the ground as though the worms Were calling her, and when she wrote her name Her heart began to break. Hush! hush! I hear The brazen door of Hell move on its hinges, And the eternal revelry float hither To hearten us. SECOND MERCHANT. Leap, feathered, on the air And meet them with her soul caught in your claws. [_They rush out. ALEEL crawls into the middle of the room. The twilight has fallen and gradually darkens as the scene goes on. There is a distant muttering of thunder and a sound of rising storm._ ALEEL. The brazen door stands wide, and Balor comes Borne in his heavy car, and demons have lifted The age-weary eyelids from the eyes that of old Turned gods to stone; Barach the traitor comes; And the lascivious race, Cailitin, That cast a druid weakness and decay Over Sualtam’s and old Dectora’s child; And that great king Hell first took hold upon When he killed Naisi and broke Deirdre’s heart; And all their heads are twisted to one side, For when they lived they warred on beauty and peace With obstinate, crafty, sidelong bitterness. [_OONA enters, but remains standing by the door. ALEEL half rises, leaning upon one arm and one knee._] Crouch down, old heron, out of the blind storm. OONA. Where is the Countess Cathleen? All this day She has been pale and weakly: when her hand Touched mine over the spindle her hand trembled, And now I do not know where she has gone. ALEEL. Cathleen has chosen other friends than us, And they are rising through the hollow world. [_He points downwards._ First, Orchil, her pale beautiful head alive, Her body shadowy as vapour drifting Under the dawn, for she who awoke desire Has but a heart of blood when others die; About her is a vapoury multitude Of women, alluring devils with soft laughter; Behind her a host heat of the blood made sin, But all the little pink-white nails have grown To be great talons. [_He seizes OONA and drags her into the middle of the room and points downwards with vehement gestures. The wind roars._] They begin a song And there is still some music on their tongues. OONA. [_Casting herself face downwards on the floor._] O maker of all, protect her from the demons, And if a soul must needs be lost, take mine. [_ALEEL kneels beside her, but does not seem to hear her words; he is gazing down as if through the earth. The peasants return. They carry the COUNTESS CATHLEEN and lay her upon the ground before OONA and ALEEL. She lies there as if dead._]