at crept--Ah, feel my heart, feel how it beats!
No pity?

ROBIN

Five years ago this might have moved me!

ELINOR

No pity?

ROBIN

None. There is no more to say.
My men shall guide you safely through the wood.

ELINOR

I never forgive!

[_Enter MARIAN from the cave; she stands silent and startled._]

ROBIN

My men shall guide you back.

[_Calls._]

Ho, there, my lads!

[_Enter several of the OUTLAWS._]

This lady needs a guide
Back thro' the wood.

ELINOR

Good-bye, then, Robin, and good-bye to you,
Sweet mistress! You have wronged me! What of that?
For--when we meet--Come, lead on, foresters!

[_Exeunt the QUEEN and her guides._]

MARIAN

O Robin, Robin, how the clouds begin
To gather--how that woman seems to have brought
A nightmare on these woods.

ROBIN

Forget it all!
She is so tangled in those lies the world
Draws round some men and women, none can help her.
Marian, for God's sake, let us quite forget
That nightmare! Oh, that perfect brow of yours,
Those perfect eyes, pure as the violet wells
That only mirror heaven and are not dimmed
Except by clouds that drift thro' heaven and catch
God's glory in the sunset and the dawn.

MARIAN

It is enough for them simply to speak
The love they hold for you. But--I still fear.
Robin--think you--she might have overheard
Your plan--the rescue of Will Scarlet?

ROBIN

Why--
No--No--some time had passed, and yet--she seemed
To have heard your charge against her! No, she guessed it.
Come--let us brush these cobwebs from our minds.
Look how the first white star begins to tremble
Like a big blossom in that sycamore.
Now you shall hear our forest ritual.
Ho, Little John! Summon the lads together!

[_The OUTLAWS come out of the cave. LITTLE JOHN blows a bugle
and others come in from the forest._]

Friar, read us the rules.

FRIAR TUCK

First, shall no man
Presume to call our Robin Hood or any
By name of Earl, lord, baron, knight or squire,
But simply by their names as men and brothers:
Second, that Lady Marian while she shares
Our ou