beast, and star'st!
Yet God shall punish thee since, though I beg,
Thou would'st not kill me now!

STR. LEPER (crying out despairingly).
Iseult, awake!
Oh Golden One, 'tis Tristram calls!

ISEULT.
Thou seekst
With scorn and biting words to martyr me,
And kill me then! Oh say that thou wilt kill
Me afterward--when thou hast railed enough!
--And thou wilt come no nearer than thou art?

STR. LEPER.
Iseult, awake! Awake, Iseult, and speak,
And tell me if thou lovest Tristram still!

ISEULT.
Ah, he was once my friend! Why dost thou use
The dagger of his name to prick my heart?
I loved him once, and 'tis for that I stand
Here!--Kill me now!

STR. LEPER (going to the foot of the steps).
God help me! Hear me speak,
Iseult, for I'm--

(His voice breaks with a sigh.)

I'm Tristram's messenger!
Thine erstwhile friend--Him whom thou loved'st!

ISEULT (angrily).
Would'st shame
Me in my shame? Thou beast!

STR. LEPER.
I wish to save
Thee now. Dost thou love Tristram still?

ISEULT (going down a few steps, slowly and carefully).
Thou art
A messenger of his?--And dost thou come,
Perchance, to take me to him?

(Breaking out.)

Does thy Lord
Desire me, to give me as a gift
From some strange land, to his new bride?

[The Strange Leper hides his face in his
hands.]

Am I
To sit within a cage and watch him kiss
Her? Listen to him call his wife "Iseult?"
Was this his sweet design, or does Iseult
The Snowy Handed crave my golden hair
To make a pillow for voluptuous hours?
How strange that Tristram should so long for me
That he sends forth his messengers! And will
He lay us both within the self-same bed?
Caress and kiss us both at once throughout
The night's long, heavy hours? In other days
More modest was thy Lord in his desires.

(Passionately.)

Now kill me, kill me, beast! I've lived enough.

STR. LEPER.
Iseult, dost thou not know me yet?

ISEULT.