Scene
A Road on the Norman Frontiers
HUGO, AGATHA, ORION, THURSTON, and armed attendants, riding slowly.
Agatha:Sir Knight, what makes you so grave and glum?At times I fear you are deaf or dumb,Or both.
Hugo: And yet, should I speak the truth,There is little in common ‘twixt us, forsooth;You would think me duller, and still more vain,If I uttered the thoughts that fill my brain;Since the matters with which my mind is ladenWould scarcely serve to amuse a maiden.
Agatha:I am so foolish and you are so wise,’Tis the meaning your words so ill disguise.Alas! my prospects are sad enough:I had rather listen to speeches roughThan muse and meditate silentlyOn the coming loss of my liberty.Sad hope to me can my future bring,Yet, while I may, I would prattle and sing,Though it only were to try and assuageThe dreariness of my pilgrimage.
Hugo:Prattle and sing to your heart’s content,And none will offer impediment.
Agatha (sings):We were playmates in childhood, my sister and I,Whose playtime with childhood is done;Through thickets where briar and bramble grew high,Barefooted I’ve oft seen her run.
I’ve known her, when mists on the moorland hung white,Bareheaded past nightfall remain;She has followed a landless and penniless knightThrough battles and sieges in Spain.
But I pulled the flower, and shrank from the thorn,Sought the sunshine, and fled from the mist;My sister was born to face hardship with scorn—I was born to be fondled and kiss’d.
Hugo (aside):She has a sweet voice.
Orion: And a sweet face, too—Be candid for once, and give her her due.
Agatha:Your face grows longer, and still more long,Sir Scholar! how did you like my song?
Hugo:I thought it rather a silly one.
Agatha:You are far from a pleasant companion.