Act II - Page 2

GUY. Art thou not Earl of Wessex?

HAROLD. In mine earldom A man may hang gold bracelets on a bush, And leave them for a year, and coming back Find them again.

GUY. Thou art a mighty man In thine own earldom!

HAROLD. Were such murderous liars In Wessex--if I caught them, they should hang Cliff-gibbeted for sea-marks; our sea-mew Winging their only wail!

GUY. Ay, but my men Hold that the shipwreckt are accursed of God;-- What hinders me to hold with mine own men?

HAROLD. The Christian manhood of the man who reigns!

GUY. Ay, rave thy worst, but in our oubliettes Thou shalt or rot or ransom. Hale him hence! [To one of his ATTENDANTS. Fly thou to William; tell him we have Harold.

SCENE II.--BAYEUX. PALACE.

COUNT WILLIAM and WILLIAM MALET.

WILLIAM. We hold our Saxon woodcock in the springe, But he begins to flutter. As I think He was thine host in England when I went To visit Edward.

MALET. Yea, and there, my lord, To make allowance for their rougher fashions, I found him all a noble host should be.

WILLIAM. Thou art his friend: thou know'st my claim on England Thro' Edward's promise: we have him in the toils. And it were well, if thou shouldst let him feel, How dense a fold of danger nets him round, So that he bristle himself against my will.

MALET. What would I do, my lord, if I were you?

WILLIAM. What wouldst thou do?

MALET. My lord, he is thy guest.

WILLIAM. Nay, by the splendour of God, no guest of mine. He came not to see me, had past me by To hunt and hawk elsewhere, save for the fate Which hunted him when that un-Saxon blast, And bolts of thunder moulded in high heaven To serve the Norman purpose, drave and crack'd His boat on Ponthieu beach; where our friend Guy Had wrung his ransom from him by the rack, But that I slept between and purchased him, Translating his captivity from Guy To mine own hearth at Bayeux, where he sits My ransom'd prisoner.

MALET. Well, if not with gold, With golden deeds and iron strokes that brought Thy war with Brittany to a goodlier close Than else had been, he paid his ransom back.

WILLIAM. So that henceforth they are not like to league With Harold against me.

MALET. A marvel, how He from the liquid sands of Coesnon Haled thy shore-swallow'd, armour'd Normans up To fight for thee again!

WILLIAM. Perchance against Their saver, save thou save him from himself.

MALET. But I should let him home again, my lord.

WILLIAM. Simple! let fly the bird within the hand, To catch the bird again within the bush! No. Smooth thou my way, before he clash with me; I want his voice in England for the crown, I want thy voice with him to bring him round; And being brave he must be subtly cow'd, And being truthful wrought upon to swear Vows that he dare not break. England our own Thro' Harold's help,