100
THE FAMILY LEGEND:
ARGYLL.
I had not now
(Taking Sir Hubert's hand with emotion.)
Forgive me, noble youth!
Alas, alas! the father's tenderness
Before the chieftain's policy gave way,
And all this wreck hath been.
LORNE.
That cursed peace; that coward's shadeless face
Of smiles and promises, to all things yielding
With weak, unmanly pliancy, so gain'd you
Even you, the wise Argyll!—it made me mad!
Who hath no point that he maintains against you,
No firmness hath to hold him of your side:
Who cannot sturdily against me stand,
And say, "Encroach no farther," friend of mine
Shall never be.
DE GREY.
Thine own impetuous wilfulness did make
The other's pliant mind more specious seem;
And thou thyself did'st to that luckless union,
