For Death’s cup thou hast consumed;
Fear His Will, or do not fear it,
Equally thy work is doom’d.
BRAND.
[_Softly._]
Agnes, Alf, the gladsome life
When unrest and pain I knew not—
I exchanged for tears and strife,
In my own heart plunged the knife,—
But the fiend of evil slew not.
THE CHOIR.
[_Tender and alluring._]
Dreamer, thine is not His spirit,
Nought to Him thy gifts are worth;
Heaven thou never shalt inherit,
Earth-born creature, live for Earth!
BRAND.
[_Breaks into soft weeping._]
Alf and Agnes, come unto me!
Lone I sit upon this peak!
Keen the north wind pierces through me,
Phantoms seize me, chill ones, meek——!
_He looks up; a glimmering space opens and clears in the
mist; the APPARITION of a WOMAN stands in it, brightly
clad, with a cloak over its shoulders. It is AGNES._
THE PHANTOM.
[_Smiles, and spreads its arms towards him._]
See, again, Brand, I have found thee!
BRAND.
[_Starting up in bewilderment._]
Agnes! Agnes! What is this?
THE PHANTOM.
Dearest, it is thy release
From the fever’d dreams that bound thee!
BRAND.
Agnes! Agnes!
[_He is hurrying towards her._
THE PHANTOM.
[_Screams._]
Cross not! Deep
Rolls between us the abyss,
Where the mountain-torrents sweep!
[_Tenderly._]
Thou dost dream not, neither sleep,
Nor with phantoms wagest war;
Dear, by sickness thou wast wasted,—
Frenzy’s bitter cup hast tasted,
Dreamt, thy wife had fled afar.
BRAND.
Oh, thou livest! Blessed be——!
THE PHANTOM.
[_Hastily._]
Peace! Of that no murmur now!
Follow fast, the moments press.
BRAND.
Oh, but Alf!
THE PHANTOM.
Alive, no less.
BRAND.
Lives!
THE PHANTOM.
And with unfaded brow!
All thy sorrows did but seem!
All thy battles were a dream,
Alf is with thy mother; she
Vigorous yet, and stalwart he;
Still the old Church stands entire;
Pluck it down if thou desire;—
And the dalesmen still drudge on
As they did in good days gone.
BRAND.
“Good!”
THE PHANTOM.
For days of peace they were.
BRAND.
“Peace?”
THE PHANTOM.
O haste thee, Brand, O fly!
BRAND.
Woe, I dream!
THE PHANTOM.
Thy dream’s gone by,
But thou needest sheltering care——
BRAND.
I am strong.
THE PHANTOM.
Ah me, not yet;
Still the fell dream lies in wait.
Once again from wife and child
It shall sweep thee, cloud-beguiled,
Once again thy soul obscure,—
If thou wilt not seek the cure.
BRAND.
Oh, vouchsafe it!
THE PHANTOM.
Thou availest,
Thou alone, that cure to reach.
BRAND.
Name it then!
THE PHANTOM.
The aged leech,
Who has conn’d so many a page,—
The unfathomably sage,
He discovered where thou ailest.
All the phantoms of thy strife,
_Three words_ conjured them to life.
Them thou boldly must recall,
From thy memory efface them,
From thy conscience blot, erase them;
At their bidding, lo, thou burnest
In this maddening blast of bane;—
O forget them, if thou yearnest
To make white thy soul again!
BRAND.
Say, what are they?
THE PHANTOM.
_Nought or all._
BRAND.
[_Reeling back._]
Is it so?
THE PHANTOM.
So sure as I
Am alive, and thou wilt die.
BRAND.
Woe on us! The sword once more
Swings above us, as before!
THE PHANTOM.
Brand, be kind; my breast is warm;
Clasp me close in thy strong arm;—
Let us fly where summer’s sun——
BRAND.
Never more that plague shall bind me.
THE PHANTOM.
Ah, Brand, all is not yet won.
BRAND.
[_Shaking his head._]
I have flung that dream behind me.
Me no more that phantom-strife’s
Horror thrills;—but Life’s! but Life’s!
THE PHANTOM.
Life’s?
BRAND.
Come, Agnes, where I lead!
THE PHANTOM.
Brand, what is it thou wilt do?
BRAND.
What I must: the _dream_ make _true_,—
Live the vision into deed.
THE PHANTOM.
Ha, thou canst not! Think but whither
That road led thee.
BRAND.
Thither! Thither!
THE PHANTOM.
What thou dared’st, dream-beguiled,
Wilt thou, whole and waking, dare?
BRAND.
Whole and waking.
THE PHANTOM.
Lose the child?
BRAND.
Lose it.
THE PHANTOM.
Brand!
BRAND.
I must.
THE PHANTOM.
And tear
Me all bleeding from the snare?
With the rods of sacrifice
Scourge me to the death?
BRAND.
I must.
THE PHANTOM.
Quench the glow of sunny skies,
Turn all bright things into dust,
Never pluck life’s fruitage fair,
Never be upborne by song?
Ah, so many memories throng!
BRAND.
Nought avails. Lose not thy prayer.
THE PHANTOM.
Heed’st thou not thy martyr’s meed?
Baffled where thou sought’st to waken,
Stoned by all, by all forsaken?
BRAND.
Not for recompense I bleed;
Not for trophies do I fight.
THE PHANTOM.
For a race that walks entomb’d.
BRAND.
One to many can give light.
THE PHANTOM.
All their generation’s doom’d.
BRAND.
Much availeth one will’s might.
THE PHANTOM.
“One” with fiery sword of yore
Man of Paradise bereft!
At the gate a gulf he cleft;—
Over that thou mayst not soar!
BRAND.
But the path of _yearning’s_ left.
THE PHANTOM.
[_Vanishes in a thunder-clap; the mist fills the place where
it stood; and a piercing scream is heard, as of one
flying._]
Die! Earth cannot use thee more!
BRAND.
[_Stands a moment in bewilderment._]
Out into the mist it leapt,—
Plumy wings of falcon beating,
Down along the moorland swept.
For a finger it was treating,
That the hand might be its prize—!
Ha, the Spirit of Compromise!
GERD.
[_Comes with a rifle._]
Hast thou seen the falcon?
BRAND.
Yea;
This time I have seen him.
GERD.
Say,
Quick, which way thou saw’st him fly;
We will chase him, thou and I.
BRAND.
Steel and bullet he defies;
Oftentimes you think he flies
Stricken by the mortal lead,—
But draw near to strike him dead,
Up he starts again, secure,
With the old cajoling lure.
GERD.
See, the hunter’s gun I’ve got,
Steel and silver is the shot;
’Trow, my wits are less astray
Than they reckon!
BRAND.
Have thy way.
[_Going._
GERD.
Priest, thou walkest lame afoot.
BRAND.
I was hunted.
GERD.
Red thy brow
As the blood of thy heart’s root!
BRAND.
I was beaten.
GERD.
Musical
Was thy voice of old, that now
Rattles like the leaves of Fall.
BRAND.
I was——
GERD.
What?
BRAND.
By one and all
Spurn’d.
GERD.
[_Looking at him with great eyes._]
Aha,—I know thee now!
For the priest I took thee;—pest
Take the priest and all the rest!
The One, greatest Man art thou!
BRAND.
So I madly dared to trust.
GERD.
Let me look upon thy hands!
BRAND.
On my hands?
GERD.
They’re pierced and torn!
In thy hair the blood-dew stands,
Riven by the fanged thorn
In thy forehead fiercely thrust,
Thou the crucifix didst span!
In my childhood Father told me
’Twas another, long ago,
Far away, that suffer’d so;—
Now I see he only fool’d me;—
Thou art the Redeeming man!
BRAND.
Get thee hence!
GERD.
Shall I not fall
Low before thy feet and pray?
BRAND.
Hence!
GERD.
_Thou_ gavest the blood away
That hath might to save us all!
BRAND.
Oh, no saving plank I see,
In my own soul’s agony!
GERD.
Take the rifle. Shoot them dead—
BRAND.
[_Shaking his head._]
Man must struggle till he falls.
GERD.
Oh, not thou; thou art the head!
By the nails thy hands were gored;—
Thou art chosen; thou art Lord.
BRAND.
I’m the meanest worm that crawls.
GERD.
[_Looks up; the clouds are lifting._]
Know’st thou where thou stand’st?
BRAND.
[_Gazing before him._]
Below
The first step of the ascent;
It is far, and I am faint.
GERD.
[_More fiercely._]
Say! Where art thou, dost thou know?
BRAND.
Yes, now falls the misty shroud.
GERD.
Yes, it falls: without a cloud
Svartetind impales the blue!
BRAND.
[_Looking up._]
Svartetind? The ice-church?
GERD.
Yea!
Here thou camest churchward, too!
BRAND.
Hence! a thousand miles away!—
How I long to fly afar,
Where the sunlight and the balm
And the holy hush of calm,
And Life’s summer-kingdoms are!
[_Bursts into tears._]
Jesus, I have cried and pleaded,—
From thy bosom still outcast;
Thou hast pass’d me by unheeded
As a well-worn word is passed;
Of salvation’s vesture, stain’d
With the wine of tears unfeign’d,
Let me clasp one fold at last!
GERD.
[_Pale._]
What is this? Then weepest, thou,
Hot tears, till thy cheek is steaming,—
And the glacier’s death-shroud streaming
Silently from crag and crest,—
And my memory’s frozen tides
Melt to weeping in my breast,—
And the snowy surplice glides
Down the Ice-priest’s giant sides—
[_Trembling._]
Man, why wept’st thou not till now?
BRAND.
[_Radiant, clear, and with an air of renewed youth._]
Through the Law an ice-track led,—
Then broke summer overhead!
Till to-day I strove alone
To be God’s pure tablet-stone;—
From to-day my life shall stream
Lambent, glowing, as a dream.
The ice-fetters break away,
I can weep,—and kneel,—and pray!
[_Sinks upon his knees._
GERD.
[_Looks askance upwards, and then, softly and timidly._]
There he sits, the ugly sprite!
’Tis his shadow sweeps the land,
Where he flogs the mountain height
With his flapping vans in flight.
Now Redemption is at hand——
If the silver will but bite!
[_Puts the rifle to her cheek and shoots. A hollow
roar, as of distant thunder, is heard far up the
precipice._
BRAND.
[_Starting up._]
Ha, what dost thou?
GERD.
Down he slides!
I have hit him;—down he swings,—
Shrieking, till the echo rings;
Plumes in thousand from his sides
Flutter down the beetling brae;—
See how large he looms, how white—!
Ha, he’s rolling down this way!
BRAND.
[_Sinking down._]
Blood of children must be spilt
To atone the parent’s guilt!
GERD.
Tenfold vaster at his fall
Grew the tent of Heaven above!
See him tumble; see him sprawl—!
Ah, I will not shudder more;
He is white, see, as a dove—!
[_Shrieks in terror._]
Hu, the horrible thunder-roar!
[_Throws herself down in the snow._
BRAND.
[_Crouches under the descending avalanche, and, looking up,
speaks._]
God, I plunge into death’s night,—
Shall they wholly miss thy Light
Who unto man’s utmost might
Will’d—?
[_The avalanche buries him; the whole valley is
swallowed up._
A VOICE.
[_Calls through the crashing thunder._]
He is the God of Love.
THE END.
PRINTED BY
BALLANTYNE & COMPANY LTD
AT THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN
LONDON
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transcriber’s Note
There are quite a few instances of missing punctuation. The conventional
period following the character’s name is sometimes missing and has been
added for consistency’s sake without further comment. Those missing from
setting and stage direction are also added without comment, since there
is no obvious purpose to be served by the omission. However, the
restoration of punctuation missing from dialogue is noted below, since
the punctuation is frequently expressive.
Volume I of this series included errata for each succeeding volume.
Some, but not all, of the corrections indicated there had been made
before the printing employed here. Those that remained unchanged have
been corrected here, and noted as such.
Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected,
and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the
original.
vii.7 sense of national disgrace[.] Added.
3.4 _and nearly dark[.]_ Added.
4.19 is where it’s trod[.] Added.
7.8 Then come[.] Added.
8.20 come back[!] Added.
10.4 he calls serving God[.] Added.
32.39 And red-and-yellow circled eye[.] Added.
37.12 BRAND comes forward, unnoticed[,] Added.
38.6 You don’t know just how many, e[n/h?]
41.33 The purblind sight takes falcon-wing[s] Added, per
Errata.
44.19 Great God on high[!] Added.
46.16 and to the grave[.] Added.
47.26 you see your part[.] Added.
71.3 [’]Twere best I took Restored.
75.31 and hard to bear[.] Added.
84.19 calls by that name “Love,[”] Added.
88.9 to wash her soul from sin. Added.
88.20 Yes, in you[r] ledger Added.
90.29 what sees he now[.] Added.
91.2 No summons, no[.] Added.
94.21 or else send her a God-speed[.] Added.
113.22 To-morrow’s best[.] Added.
134.32 meaning half-express[’]d Inserted.
136.17 But unbroken i[n/s] her Will. Replaced,
per Errata.
139.31 “Black as snow[.”] Added.
148.5 And has not room therein to soar[.] Added.
150.13 No, Brand, I’m utterly dumbfounded[.] Added.
152.25 by death and hell[.] Added.
154.8 B[L/R]AND. Replaced.
158.13 No[!] Added.
161.15 thou’lt nothing find[.] Added.
177.2 At the cross-way stand’st thou: choose[!] Added.
177.34 At the cross-way stand’st thou: choose[!] Added.
172.28 By the child to Death’s Font[.] Added.
175.26 Thou hast conquered now[.] Added.
178.18 Good-night[.] Added.
179.23 in a gold field[.] Added.
182.27 Never[!] Added.
184.12 Hark[!] Added.
191.34 Will be ringing with “the priest[”] Added.
192.21 I’m suffocated[.] Added.
193.18 They’ve higher standards, I’m aware[?/.] Replaced.
204.1 At that projected Tower of Babe[l] Added, per
Errata.
213.22 That[’s] unimportant, I prefer Added.
226.14 Hark! your women cry in chorus[!] Added.
229.17 He’s prophesying! He’s prophesying[!] Added.
235.8 O lucky chance I caught you up[.] Added.
235.10 Ah, dear kind master, don’t be stern[.] Added.
254.17 I must[.] Added.
255.5 For a race that walks entomb’d[.] Added.
255.18 But the path of _yearning’s_ left[.] Added.
258.30 Take the rifle[.] Added.
259.28 Svartetind? The ice-church[?] Added.