Part 24 (1/2)

_Elsie._ Alas! Prince Henry!

_Lucifer._ Come with me; this way.

(ELSIE _goes in with_ LUCIFER, _who thrusts_ PRINCE HENRY _back and closes the door._)

_Prince Henry._ Gone! and the light of all my life gone with her!

A sudden darkness falls upon the world!

_Forester._ News from the Prince!

_Ursula._ Of death or life?

_Forester._ You put your questions eagerly!

_Ursula._ Answer me, then! How is the Prince?

_Forester._ I left him only two hours since Homeward returning down the river, As strong and well as if G.o.d, the Giver, Had given him back in his youth again.

_Ursula (despairing)._ Then Elsie, my poor child, is dead!

_Forester._ That, my good woman, I have not said.

Don't cross the bridge till you come to it, Is a proverb old, and of excellent wit.

_Ursula._ Keep me no longer in this pain!

_Forester._ It is true your daughter is no more;-- That is, the peasant she was before.

_Ursula._ Alas! I am simple and lowly bred I am poor, distracted, and forlorn.

And it is not well that you of the court Should mock me thus, and make a sport Of a joyless mother whose child is dead, For you, too, were of mother, born!

_Forester._ Your daughter lives, and the Prince is well!

You will learn ere long how it all befell.

Her heart for a moment never failed; But when they reached Salerno's gate, The Prince's n.o.bler self prevailed, And saved her for a n.o.bler fate, And he was healed, in his despair, By the touch of St. Matthew's sacred bones; Though I think the long ride in the open air, That pilgrimage over stocks and stones, In the miracle must come in for a share!

_Ursula._ Virgin! who lovest the poor and lonely, If the loud cry of a mother's heart Can ever ascend to where thou art, Into thy blessed hands and holy Receive my prayer of praise and thanksgiving!

Let the hands that bore our Saviour bear it Into the awful presence of G.o.d; For thy feet with holiness are shod, And if thou bearest it he will hear it.

Our child who was dead again is living!

_Forester._ I did not tell you she was dead; If you thought so 'twas no fault of mine; At this very moment, while I speak, They are sailing homeward down the Rhine, In a splendid barge, with golden prow, And decked with banners white and red As the colors on your daughter's cheek.

They call her the Lady Alicia now; For the Prince in Salerno made a vow That Elsie only would he wed.

_Ursula._ Jesu Maria! what a change!

All seems to me so weird and strange!

_Forester._ I saw her standing on the deck, Beneath an awning cool and shady; Her cap of velvet could not hold The tresses of her hair of gold, That flowed and floated like the stream, And fell in ma.s.ses down her neck.

As fair and lovely did she seem As in a story or a dream Some beautiful and foreign lady.