ISEULT. What, _thou_? _Thou_ grieve! _Thou_ die of shame? The stones Shall soften and shall melt ere thou, my lord, Hast learned what pity means! DENOVALIN. Thou dost misjudge Me, Queen Iseult, for when thy foot first touched The Cornish strand as thou stepped'st from thy ship And came to be the bride of Mark, I saw Thee then, and by the Lord, a solemn oath Of loyalty upon thy golden hair To thee I swore! Oh thou wast wondrous fair! ISEULT. And I, my Lord, what evil did I thee? DENOVALIN. Thou loved'st Tristram. ISEULT. What? Denovalin, When, by a miracle of God, I have Escaped the fiery death which thou prepared'st; When, with these tender hands of mine, I bore Before my judges, and without a burn The glowing iron, and with sacred oath Have sworn, thou darest doubt Almighty God's Decree, and dar'st accuse me still, and say I love Lord Tristram with a guilty love? This nephew of my wedded spouse! Of this I'll make complaint unto my sponsors, Lord! DENOVALIN (calmly). Almighty God thou hast, perhaps, deceived, But we, at least, Iseult, we must be frank, Though enemies, and deal straightforwardly With one another. ISEULT. Go, thou were-wolf!--Go! DENOVALIN. There was a time when I, too, heard the song Of birds in spring-time; but the fragrant breath Thy golden hair exhales,--that hair which I Have seen flow rippling through Lord Tristram's hands-- Has made me hard and rough--a very beast! I live pent up within my castle walls As some old wolf! I sleep all day and ride At night! Ay, ride until my steed comes home With gasping nostril and with bloody flank, And lies as dead when morning comes! My hounds Fall dead along the road! And yet, may be, That long before the earliest cock has crowed I cry aloud upon thy name each day Like one who swelters in his own life's blood! Remember this, for hadst thou once, Iseult, Beside me ridden ere the night grew dark, Perchance this hatred of all living things Had never got such hold upon my soul. Remember this, throughout the many things Which shall, ere evening, come to pass. And evening comes to thee, Iseult,--to me, To all! And so 'tis best thou understand The secret of the past fairly to judge. This is the peace I fain would have with thee. ISEULT. I am afraid--afraid--of thee! DENOVALIN. Thou shouldst Not fear, Iseult, these words so seemingly Devoid of sense! (Changing the subject.) At dawn today I rode Along the Morois. ISEULT. Ay, since that's the road That leads the straightest from thy lofty hall To St. Lubin.--