Scene-5 The Castle in Normandy.- The Castle Hall.  
Hugo enters the hall. Harold delivers Hugo a letter 
from Count Baldwin, a friend of Hugo's. It is a dying 
request written at the Holy Wars in Palestine 
requesting Hugo to take Count Baldwin's 
remaining single daughter, Agatha, to a convent.


HUGO

Where the storm in its wrath hath lighted,
The pine lies low in the dust;
And the corn is withered and blighted,
Where the fields are red with the rust:
Falls the black frost, nipping and killing,
Where its petals the violet rears,
And the wind, though tempered, is chilling
To the lamb despoiled by the shears. 

The strong in their strength are shaken,
The wise in their wisdom fall;
And the bloom of beauty is taken—
Strength, wisdom, beauty, and all;
They vanish, their lot fulfilling,
Their doom approaches and nears,
But the wind, though tempered, is chilling
To the lamb despoiled by the shears.

‘Tis the will of a Great Creator,
He is wise, His will must be done,
And it cometh sooner or later;
And one shall be taken, and one
Shall be left here, toiling and tilling,
In this vale of sorrows and tears,
Where the wind, though tempered, is chilling
To the lamb despoiled by the shears.

Tell me, mine own one, tell me,
The shadows of life and the fears
Shall neither daunt me nor quell me,
While I can avert thy tears:
Dost thou shrink, as I shrink, unwilling
To realize lonely years?
Since the wind, though tempered, is chilling
To the lamb despoiled by the shears.
                   Adam Lindsay Gordon