REDFEATHER.

A lost soul.  In earth or heaven
What has a better right?

PRIEST.

Go, pagan, go! 
Drink, dice, and dance:  take no more thought than blind
Beasts of the field....

REDFEATHER.

Or ... lilies of the field,
To quote a pagan sage.  I go my way.

PRIEST [solemnly].

And when Death comes....

REDFEATHER.

He shall not find me dead.

[Puts on his plumed hat.  The priests go out.]

REDFEATHER.

These frozen fools....

[The Lady Olive comes out of the chapel.  He sees her.]

Oh, they were right enough. 
Where shall I hide my carrion from the sun?

[Buries his face.  His hat drops to the ground.]

OLIVE [looking up.]

Captain, are you from church?  I saw you not.

REDFEATHER.

No, I am here.

[Lays his hand on a gargoyle.]

I, too, am a grotesque,
And dance with all the devils on the roof.

OLIVE [with a strange smile.]

For Satan, also, I have often prayed.

REDFEATHER [roughly].

Satan may worry women if he will,
For he was but an angel ere he fell,
But I—­before I fell—­I was a man.

OLIVE.

He too, my Master, was a man:  too strong
To fear a strong man’s sins:  ’tis written He
Descended into hell.

REDFEATHER.

Write, then, that I

[Leaps to the ground before her.]

Descended into heaven.... 
        You are ill?

OLIVE.

No, well....

REDFEATHER.

You speak the truth—­you are the Truth—­
Lady, say once again then, ‘I am well.’

OLIVE.

I—­ah!  God give me grace—­I am nigh dead.

REDFEATHER [quietly.]

Lord Orm?

OLIVE.

Yes—­yes.

REDFEATHER.

Is in your father’s house—­
Having the title-deeds—­would drive you forth. 
Homeless, and with your father sick to death,
Into this winter, save on a condition
Named....

OLIVE.

And unnameable.  Even so; Lord Orm—­
Ah! do you know him?

REDFEATHER.

Ay, I saw him once. 
The sun shone on his face, that smiled and smiled,
A sight not wholesome to the eyes of man.

OLIVE.

Captain, I tell you God once fell asleep. 
And in that hour the world went as it would;
Dogs brought forth cats, and poison grew in grapes,
And Orm was born....

REDFEATHER.

Why, curse him! can he not
Be kicked or paid?

OLIVE [feverishly].

Hush!  He is just behind
There in the house—­see how the great house glares,
Glares like an ogre’s mask—­the whole dead house
Possessed with bestial meaning....