BARBARA
[bitterly]
A stroller!—–­oh, nought but a wandering man.

PIPER,
Well, would you have a man take root, I ask?

BARBARA
That swallows swords. . . .

PIPER
  Is he a comely man?

BARBARA
That swallows swords!—­

PIPER
  What’s manlier to swallow? 
Did he but swallow pancakes, were that praise? 
Pancakes and sausage, like your Hamelin yokels? 
He swallows fire and swords, I say, and more. 
And yet this man hath for a whole noon-hour
Guarded you while you slept;—­still as a dove,
Distant and kind as shadow; giant-strong
For his enchanted princess,—­even you.

BARBARA
So you bewitched me, then.

PIPER
[wildly]
  How do I know?

BARBARA
Where are the children?

PIPER
  I’ll not tell you that. 
You are too much of Hamelin.

BARBARA
  You bewitched them!

PIPER
Yes, so it seems.  But how?—­Upon my life,
’T is more than I know,—­yes, a little more.
[Rapidly:  half in earnest and half in whimsy]
Sometimes it works, and sometimes no.  There are
Some things upon my soul, I cannot do.
[Watching her.]

BARBARA
[expectantly]
Not even with thy pipe?

PIPER
  Not even so. 
Some are too hard.—­Yet, yet, I love to try: 
And most, to try with all the hidden charms
I have, that I have never counted through.

BARBARA
[fascinated]
Where are they?

PIPER
[touching his heart]
  Here.

BARBARA
What are they?

PIPER
  How do I know? 
If I knew all, why should I care to live? 
No, no!  The game is What-Will-Happen-Next?

BARBARA
And what will happen?

PIPER
[tantalizingly]
  Ah! how do I know? 
It keeps me searching.  ’T is so glad and sad
And strange to find out, What-Will-Happen-Next! 
And mark you this:  the strangest miracle. . .

BARBARA
Yes!—­

PIPER
Stranger than the Devil or thy Judgment;
Stranger than piping,—­even when I pipe! 
Stranger than charming mice—­or even men—­

BARBARA
[with tense expectancy]
What is it?  What?

PIPER
[watching her]
  Why,—­what may come to pass
Here in the heart.  There is one very charm—­

BARBARA
Oh!

PIPER
Are you brave?

BARBARA
[awe-struck]
  Oh!

PIPER
[slowly]
Will you drink the philter?

BARBARA
’Tis. . . some enchantment?

PIPER
[mysteriously]
’T is a love philter.

BARBARA
Oh, tell me first—­

PIPER
  Why, sooth, the only charm
In it, is Love.  It is clear well-water.

BARBARA
[disappointed]
Only well-water?