round
The castle with thy visor raised.

DENOVALIN.
King Mark
Is not my over-lord. I'm not his liege.

ISEULT.
And I tell thee, my Lord Denovalin,
Thy face is more abhorred by me than plague;
More hateful than dread leprosy! Away!

DENOVALIN.
More measured should'st thou be in thy reproof.

(Much moved.)

It was for thee I came today, harsh Queen!

ISEULT.
When last thou stoodst before my face, my Lord,
Naked I was, and men at arms prepar'd
The glowing pyre whereon thy jealousy
Had doomed my youthful body to be burned!
Calm wast thou then; no quiver moved thy face,
Untroubled by thy deed. Dost thou forget?

DENOVALIN.
And Tristram stood beside thee then, as he
Had stood, when I accused thee to King Mark,
And when I see him standing next to thee,
My eyes grow dim and all the world seems red
With blood. 'Twas him I saw, not thee, Iseult,
Else had I died of sorrow and of shame.

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-w