No More Learning

"It is terrible!
Sooner would I have lost my crown than come
Alone at midnight to this dreadful place. "
"Does this old iron," said the troubadour,
Striking the armour of Eviradnus,
"Frighten you? " "Leave my ancestors in peace! "
Exclaimed Mahaud. "A little man like you
Must not lay hands on them. " The troubadour
Grew pale with anger, but the tall lute-player
Laughed, and his blue eyes flamed upon Mahaud.
"Now I must sleep," she said, "the priest's strange wine
Begins to make me drowsy. Stay with me!
Stay and watch over me all night, my friends. "
"Far have we travelled," said the troubadour,
"In hopes to be alone with you to-night. "
And his dark face lightened with a grim smile,
When, as he spoke, Mahaud fell fast asleep.
"I'll take the girl," he cried to the lute-player,
"And you can have the land! Are you content? "
"Yes," said the lute-player, "but love is sweet.
"
"Revenge is sweeter! " cried the troubadour.
"'A little man like me! ' Those were her words.
Neither as queen nor empress shall she reign!
I swore it when she flouted me. She dies! "
"I cannot kill her," said the lute-player,
"I love her. " "So do I! " the other said.
"I love her and hate her. If she lived,
There would be war between us two. She dies!
We love her; we must kill her. " As he spoke
The troubadour pulled at a ring, and raised
A flagstone in the floor. "I know this place,"
He said.