Page:Plays in Prose and Verse (1922).djvu/123

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THE KING'S THRESHOLD
107

But you have never loved me.

seanchan [seizing her by wrist]. You, a child,
Who have but seen a man out of the window,
Tell me that I know nothing about love,
And that I do not love you? Did I not say
There was a frenzy in the light of the stars
All through the livelong night, and that the night
Was full of marriages? But that fight’s over
And all that’s done with, and I have to die.

fedelm [throwing her arms about him]. I will not be put from you, although I think
I had not grudged it you if some great lady,
If the King’s daughter, had set out your bed.
I will not give you up to death; no, no!
And are not these white arms and this soft neck
Better than the brown earth?

seanchan [struggling to disengage himself]. Begone from me!
There’s treachery in those arms and in that voice.
They’re all against me. Why do you linger there?
How long must I endure the sight of you?

fedelm. O, Seanchan! Seanchan!

seanchan [rising]. Go where you will,
So it be out of sight and out of mind,
I cast you from me like an old torn cap,