s: This, the aim of its life, it is lost to its use,


s: It goes mad, is diffused into deluge, and dies.


s: The other, the strength of the sea; which supplies


s: Its deep life from mysterious sources, and draws


s: The river's life into its own life, by laws


s: Which it heeds not.  The difference in each case is this:


s: The river is lost, if the ocean it miss;


s: If the sea miss the river, what matter?  The sea


s: Is the sea still, forever.  Its deep heart will be


s: Self-sufficing, unconscious of loss as of yore;


s: Its sources are infinite; still to the shore,


s: With no diminution of pride, it will say,


s: "I am here; I, the sea! stand aside, and make way!"


s: Was his love, then, the love of the river? and she,


s: Had she taken that love for the love of the sea?


s: At that thought, from her aspect whatever had been


s: Stern or haughty departed; and, humble in mien,


s: She approach'd him and brokenly murmur'd, as though


s: To herself more than him, "Was I wrong? is it so?


s: Hear me, Duke! you must feel that, whatever you deem


s: Your right to reproach me in this, your esteem


s: I may claim on ONE ground--I at least am sincere.


s: You say that to me from the first it was clear


s: That you loved me.  But what if this knowledge were known


s: At a moment in life when I felt most alone,


s: And least able to be so? a moment, in fact,


s: When I strove from one haunting regret to retract


s: And emancipate life, and once more to fulfil


s: Woman's destinies, duties, and hopes? would you still


s: If I hoped to see all this, or deem'd that I saw


s: For a moment the promise of this in the plighted


s: So much that from others affection might claim,


s: If only affection were free?  Do you blame


s: The hope of that moment?  I deem'd my heart free


s: From all, saving sorrow.  I deem'd that in me


s: There was yet strength to mould it once more to my will,


s: To uplift it once more to my hope.  Do you still


s: Blame me, Duke, that I did not then bid you refrain


s: Yet again, say that thrice blessed word! say, Lucile,


s: And could give to you, that without which all else given


s: Were but to deceive, and to injure you even:--


s: A heart free from thoughts of another.  Say, then,


s: She resumed, gazing down, and with faltering tone,


s: "Do you blame me that, when I at last had to own


s: To my heart that the hope it had cherish'd was o'er,


s: And forever, I said to you then, 'Hope no more'?


s: The Duke answer'd... "What, then! he recrosses your path,


s: This man, and you have but to see him, despite


s: Of his troth to another, to take back that light


s: Worthless heart to your own, which he wrong'd years ago!"


s: Lucile faintly, brokenly murmur'd... "No! no!


s: 'Tis not that--but alas!--but I cannot conceal


s: That I have not forgotten the past--but I feel


s: That I cannot accept all these gifts on your part,--


s: In return for what... ah, Duke, what is it?... a heart


s: "Though a ruin it be, trust me yet to rebuild


s: And restore it," Luvois cried; "though ruin'd it be,


s: Since so dear is that ruin, ah, yield it to me!"


s: He approach'd her.  She shrank back.  The grief in her eyes


s: And to break into flame, as though fired by the light


s: Of that look, in his heart.  He exclaim'd, "Am I right?


s: She said firmly.  He hoarsely resumed, "Not yet--no!


s: But can you with accents as firm promise me


s: He replied; "ah, you will not avow what you feel!


s: He might make himself free?  Oh, you blush--turn away!


s: Dare you openly look in my face, lady, say!


s: While you deign to reply to one question from me?


s: I may hope not, you tell me: but tell me, may he?


s: What! silent?  I alter my question.  If quite


s: Freed in faith from this troth, might he hope then?"


s: Those two whisper'd words, in his breast,


s: As he heard them, in one maddening moment releast


s: All that's evil and fierce in man's nature, to crush


s: And extinguish in man all that's good.  In the rush


s: Of wild jealousy, all the fierce passions that waste


s: And darken and devastate intellect, chased


s: From its realm human reason.  The wild animal


s: In the bosom of man was set free.  And of all


s: Human passions the fiercest, fierce jealousy, fierce


s: As the fire, and more wild than the whirlwind, to pierce


s: And to rend, rush'd upon him; fierce jealousy, swell'd


s: By all passions bred from it, and ever impell'd


s: To involve all things else in the anguish within it,


s: What pass'd through his mind, who shall say? who may tell


s: The dark thoughts of man's heart, which the red glare of hell


s: That lone place, so lonely!  That silence! no sound


s: Reach'd that room, through the dark evening air, save drear


s: Drip and roar of the cataract ceaseless and near!


s: It was midnight all round on the weird silent weather;


s: Deep midnight in him!  They two,--alone and together,


s: Himself and that woman defenceless before him!


s: The triumph and bliss of his rival flash'd o'er him.


s: The abyss of his own black despair seem'd to ope


s: At his feet, with that awful exclusion of hope


s: All the Tarquin pass'd into his soul in the gloom,


s: And uttering words he dared never recall,


s: Words of insult and menace, he thunder'd down all


s: The brew'd storm-cloud within him: its flashes scorch'd blind


s: His own senses.  His spirit was driven on the wind


s: Of a reckless emotion beyond his control;


s: A torrent seem'd loosen'd within him.  His soul


s: Surged up from that caldron of passion that hiss'd


s: For, transfigured, she rose from the place


s: Where he rested o'erawed: a saint's scorn on her face;


s: Such a dread vade retro was written in light


s: On her forehead, the fiend would himself, at that sight,


s: Have sunk back abash'd to perdition.  I know


s: If Lucretia at Tarquin but once had looked so,


s: And swept to the door, like that phantom the snows


s: Feel at nightfall sweep o'er them, when daylight is gone,


s: And Caucasus is with the moon all alone.


s: There she paused; and, as though from immeasurable,


s: We, alas! have mistaken each other.  Once more


s: Illusion, to-night, in my lifetime is o'er.


s: Of that vacant, reproachful, and desolate room,


s: The sharpest that ever was edged like a sword,


s: Could have pierced to his heart with such keen accusation


s: As the silence, the sudden profound isolation,


s: He exclaimed; but no sound through the stillness was sent,


s: Save the roar of the water, in answer to him,


s: And the beetle that, sleeping, yet humm'd her night-hymn:


s: An indistinct anthem, that troubled the air


s: With a searching, and wistful, and questioning prayer.


s: "Return," sung the wandering insect.  The roar


s: Of the waters replied, "Nevermore! nevermore!"


s: He walked to the window.  The spray on his brow


s: Was flung cold from the whirlpools of water below;


s: The frail wooden balcony shook in the sound


s: Of the torrent.  The mountains gloom'd sullenly round.


s: A candle one ray from a closed casement flung.


s: O'er the dim balustrade all bewilder'd he hung,


s: Vaguely watching the broken and shimmering blink


s: Of the stars on the veering and vitreous brink


s: Of that snake-like prone column of water; and listing


s: Aloof o'er the languors of air the persisting


s: Sharp horn of the gray gnat.  Before he relinquish'd


s: His unconscious employment, that light was extinguish'd.


s: Wheels at last, from the inn door aroused him.  He ran


s: Down the stairs; reached the door--just to see her depart.


s: Down the mountain the carriage was speeding.


s: Peal'd the knell of its last hope.  He rush'd on; but whither


s: He knew not--on, into the dark cloudy weather--


s: The midnight--the mountains--on, over the shelf


s: Of the precipice--on, still--away from himself!


s: Till exhausted, he sank 'mid the dead leaves and moss


s: At the mouth of the forest.  A glimmering cross


s: Of gray stone stood for prayer by the woodside.  He sank


s: Prayerless, powerless, down at its base, 'mid the dank


s: Weeds and grasses; his face hid amongst them.  He knew


s: That the night had divided his whole life in two.


s: Behind him a past that was over forever:


s: And purpose.  He felt a remorse for the one,


s: Of the other a fear.  What remain'd to be done?


s: Whither now should he turn?  Turn again, as before,


s: To his old easy, careless existence of yore


s: He could not.  He felt that for better or worse


s: A change had pass'd o'er him; an angry remorse


s: Of his own frantic failure and error had marr'd


s: Such a refuge forever.  The future seem'd barr'd


s: By the corpse of a dead hope o'er which he must tread


s: To attain it.  Life's wilderness round him was spread,


s: Of an old princely house, true through change to the race


s: And the sword of Saint Louis--a faith 'twere disgrace


s: To relinquish, and folly to live for!  Nor less


s: Was his ancient religion (once potent to bless


s: Or to ban; and the crozier his ancestors kneel'd


s: To adore, when they fought for the Cross, in hard field


s: With the Crescent) become, ere it reach'd him, tradition;


s: A mere faded badge of a social position;


s: A thing to retain and say nothing about,


s: Lest, if used, it should draw degradation from doubt.


s: Thus, the first time he sought them, the creeds of his youth


s: Wholly fail'd the strong needs of his manhood, in truth!


s: And beyond them, what region of refuge? what field


s: For employment, this civilized age, did it yield,


s: In that civilized land? or to thought? or to action?


s: Blind deliriums, bewilder'd and endless distraction!


s: Of a hermit to flee to, wherein he might quell


s: The wild devil-instincts which now, unreprest,


s: Ran riot through that ruin'd world in his breast.


s: So he lay there, like Lucifer, fresh from the sight


s: Of a heaven scaled and lost; in the wide arms of night


s: O'er the howling abysses of nothingness!  There


s: As he lay, Nature's deep voice was teaching him prayer;


s: The voices abroad o'er those vast solitudes,


s: Were in commune all round with the invisible


s: Power that walk'd the dim world by Himself at that hour.


s: But their language he had not yet learn'd--in despite


s: Of the much he HAD learn'd--or forgotten it quite,


s: With its once native accents.  Alas! what had he


s: To add to that deep-toned sublime symphony


s: Of thanksgiving?...  A fiery finger was still


s: Scorching into his heart some dread sentence.  His will,


s: Like a wind that is put to no purpose, was wild


s: At its work of destruction within him.  The child


s: Of an infidel age, he had been his own god,


s: Had heap'd themselves over the bare west in crowds


s: Of misshapen, incongruous potents.  A green


s: Streak of dreary, cold, luminous ether, between


s: The base of their black barricades, and the ridge


s: Of the grim world, gleam'd ghastly, as under some bridge,


s: Cyclop-sized, in a city of ruins o'erthrown


s: By sieges forgotten, some river, unknown


s: And unnamed, widens on into desolate lands.


s: While he gazed, that cloud-city invisible hands


s: Dismantled and rent; and reveal'd, through a loop


s: In the breach'd dark, the blemish'd and half-broken hoop


s: Of the moon, which soon silently sank; and anon


s: The whole supernatural pageant was gone.


s: The wide night, discomforted, conscious of loss,


s: Darken'd round him.  One object alone--that gray cross--


s: Glimmer'd faint on the dark.  Gazing up, he descried,


s: Through the void air, its desolate arms outstretch'd, wide,


s: Of the dawn grayly flicker'd and glared on the spent


s: Wearied ends of the night, like a hope that is sent


s: To the need of some grief when its need is the sorest,


s: He was sullenly riding across the dark forest


s: Set against the young day, as disclaiming alliance


s: With aught that the day brings to man, he perceived


s: Faintly, suddenly, fleetingly, through the damp-leaved


s: Autumn branches that put forth gaunt arms on his way,


s: The face of a man pale and wistful, and gray


s: With the gray glare of morning.  Eugene de Luvois,


s: With the sense of a strange second sight, when he saw


s: That phantom-like face, could at once recognize,


s: By the sole instinct now left to guide him, the eyes


s: Of his rival, though fleeting the vision and dim,


s: With a stern sad inquiry fix'd keenly on him,


s: And, to meet it, a lie leap'd at once to his own;


s: A lie born of that lying darkness now grown


s: Over all in his nature!  He answer'd that gaze


s: With a look which, if ever a man's look conveys


s: More intensely than words what a man means convey'd


s: Beyond doubt in its smile an announcement which said,


s: "I have triumph'd.  The question your eyes would imply


s: And rode on, and rode gayly, and rode out of sight,


s: Leaving that look behind him to rankle and bite.


s: Or choosing, or heeding the way he was going,


s: By one wild hope impell'd, by one wild fear pursued,


s: And led by one instinct, which seem'd to exclude


s: From his mind every human sensation, save one


s: The torture of doubt--had stray'd moodily on,


s: Down the highway deserted, that evening in which


s: With the Duke he had parted; stray'd on, through rich


s: Haze of sunset, or into the gradual night,


s: Which darken'd, unnoticed, the land from his sight,


s: Toward Saint Saviour; nor did the changed aspect of all


s: The wild scenery around him avail to recall


s: To his senses their normal perceptions, until,


s: As he stood on the black shaggy brow of the hill


s: At the mouth of the forest, the moon, which had hung


s: Two dark hours in a cloud, slipp'd on fire from among


s: The rent vapors, and sunk o'er the ridge of the world.


s: Then he lifted his eyes, and saw round him unfurl'd,


s: In one moment of splendor, the leagues of dark trees,


s: And the long rocky line of the wild Pyrenees.


s: And he knew by the milestone scored rough on the face


s: Of the bare rock, he was but two hours from the place


s: Where Lucile and Luvois must have met.  This same track


s: The Duke must have traversed, perforce, to get back


s: To Luchon; not yet then the Duke had returned!


s: He listen'd, he look'd up the dark, but discern'd


s: Not a trace, not a sound of a horse by the way.


s: He knew that the night was approaching to day.


s: He resolved to proceed to Saint Saviour.  The morn,


s: Which, at last, through the forest broke chill and forlorn,


s: Reveal'd to him, riding toward Luchon, the Duke.


s: 'Twas then that the two men exchanged look for look.


s: His path through the thicket.  He reach'd the inn door,


s: Roused the yet drowsing porter, reluctant to rise,


s: And inquired for the Countess.  The man rubb'd his eyes,


s: The man's dull sense awake, "He, the stranger," he cried,


s: With a vacant intelligence, "He, oh ay, ay!


s: Could he give.  Alfred Vargrave demanded no more,


s: Flung a coin to the man, and so turn'd from the door.


s: "What! the Duke, then, the night in that lone inn had pass'd?


s: In that lone inn--with her!"  Was that look he had cast


s: When they met in the forest, that look which remain'd


s: On his mind with its terrible smile, thus explain'd?


s: The day was half turn'd to the evening, before


s: He re-entered Luchon, with a heart sick and sore.


s: In the midst of a light crowd of babblers, his look,


s: By their voices attracted, distinguished the Duke,


s: Gay, insolent, noisy, with eyes sparkling bright,


s: With laughter, shrill, airy, continuous.


s: Through the throng Alfred Vargrave, with swift sombre stride,


s: Glided on.  The Duke noticed him, turn'd, stepp'd aside,


s: And, cordially grasping his hand, whisper'd low,


s: "O, how right have you been!  There can never be--no,


s: Never--any more contest between us!  Milord,


s: He turn'd lightly round on his heel, and again


s: His gay laughter was heard, echoed loud by that train


s: Rooted, stunn'd, to the spot.  He felt weary and ill,


s: Out of heart with his own heart, and sick to the soul


s: With a dull, stifling anguish he could not control.


s: Does he hear in a dream, through the buzz of the crowd,


s: The Duke's blithe associates, babbling aloud


s: Some comment upon his gay humor that day?


s: He never was gayer: what makes him so gay?


s: 'Tis, no doubt, say the flatterers, flattering in tune,


s: Some vestal whose virtue no tongue dare impugn


s: Has at last found a Mars--who, of course, shall be nameless,


s: That vestal that yields to Mars ONLY is blameless!


s: Hark! hears he a name which, thus syllabled, stirs


s: All his heart into tumult?... Lucile de Nevers


s: With the Duke's coupled gayly, in some laughing, light,


s: Free allusion?  Not so as might give him the right


s: To turn fiercely round on the speaker, but yet


s: To a trite and irreverent compliment set!


s: Slowly, slowly, usurping that place in his soul


s: Where the thought of Lucile was enshrined, did there roll


s: Back again, back again, on its smooth downward course


s: O'er his nature, with gather'd momentum and force,


s: "No!" he mutter'd, "she cannot have sinn'd!


s: True! women there are (self-named women of mind!)


s: To choose and to leave--than the legalized stress


s: Of the lovingest marriage.  But she--is she so?


s: I will not believe it.  Lucile! O no, no!


s: "But the world? and, ah, what would it say?


s: O the look of that man, and his laughter, to-day!


s: The gossip's light question! the slanderous jest!


s: She is right! no, we could not be happy.  'Tis best


s: As it is.  I will write to her--write, O my heart!


s: And accept her farewell.  OUR farewell! must we part--


s: Part thus, then--forever, Lucile?  Is it so?


s: Yes! I feel it.  We could not be happy, I know.


s: By the weight of the heart's resignation, and slow


s: From the gate, in the courtyard, and ready to start,


s: Postboys mounted, portmanteaus packed up and made fast,


s: A travelling-carriage, unnoticed, he pass'd.


s: Sent, and paid, for the reckoning, and slowly pass'd on,


s: And ascended the staircase, and enter'd his room.


s: It was twilight.  The chamber was dark in the gloom


s: Of the evening.  He listlessly kindled a light


s: On the mantel-piece; there a large card caught his sight--


s: A large card, a stout card, well-printed and plain,


s: Nothing flourishing, flimsy, affected, or vain.


s: Full familiar to him was the name that he saw,


s: For 'twas that of his own future uncle-in-law.


s: Mrs. Darcy's rich brother, the banker, well known


s: As wearing the longest philacteried gown


s: Of all the rich Pharisees England can boast of,


s: A shrewd Puritan Scot, whose sharp wits made the most of


s: This world and the next; having largely invested


s: Not only where treasure is never molested


s: By thieves, moth, or rust; but on this earthly ball


s: Where interest was high, and security small.


s: And so to that sorrowful verse of the Psalm


s: Which declares that the wicked expand like the palm


s: In a world where the righteous are stunted and pent,


s: A cheering exception did Ridley present.


s: Like the worthy of Uz, Heaven prosper'd his piety.


s: Christian knowledge he labor'd t though life to promote


s: With personal profit, and knew how to quote


s: Both the Stocks and the Scripture, with equal advantage


s: To himself and admiring friends, in this Cant-Age.


s: Whilst over this card Alfred vacantly brooded,


s: A waiter his head through the doorway protruded;


s: "Sir Ridley MacNab with Milord wish'd to speak."


s: Alfred Vargrave could feel there were tears on his cheek;


s: He brushed them away with a gesture of pride.


s: He glanced at the glass; when his own face he eyed,


s: He was scared by its pallor.  Inclining his head,


s: He with tones calm, unshaken, and silvery, said,


s: That benign apparition appeared at the door.


s: Sir Ridley, released for a while from the cares


s: Of business, and minded to breathe the pure airs


s: Of the blue Pyrenees, and enjoy his release,


s: In company there with his sister and niece,


s: Found himself now at Luchon--distributing tracts,


s: Sowing seed by the way, and collecting new facts


s: For Exeter Hall; he was starting that night


s: For Bigorre: he had heard, to his cordial delight,


s: That Lord Alfred was there, and, himself, setting out


s: For the same destination: impatient, no doubt!


s: Here some commonplace compliments as to "the marriage


s: Through his speech trickled softly, like honey: his carriage


s: Was ready.  A storm seem'd to threaten the weather;


s: If his young friend agreed, why not travel together?


s: With a footstep uncertain and restless, a frown


s: Of perplexity, during this speech, up and down


s: Alfred Vargrave was striding; but, after a pause


s: And a slight hesitation, the which seem'd to cause


s: Some surprise to Sir Ridley, he answer'd--"My dear


s: Sir Ridley, allow me a few moments here--


s: Half an hour at the most--to conclude an affair


s: Of a nature so urgent as hardly to spare


s: My presence (which brought me, indeed, to this spot),


s: Said Sir Ridley, and smiled.  Alfred Vargrave, before


s: Sir Ridley observed it, had pass'd through the door.


s: A few moments later, with footsteps revealing


s: Intense agitation of uncontroll'd feeling,


s: What pass'd through his mind then is more than I know.


s: But before one half-hour into darkness had fled,


s: In the courtyard he stood with Sir Ridley.  His tread


s: Was firm and composed.  Not a sign on his face


s: Betrayed there the least agitation.  "The place


s: You so kindly have offer'd," he said, "I accept."


s: And he stretch'd out his hand.  The two travellers stepp'd


s: They drove down the dark road, and into the night.


s: Sir Ridley was one of those wise men who, so far


s: As their power of saying it goes, say with Zophar,


s: "We, no doubt, are the people, and wisdom shall die with us!"


s: Though of wisdom like theirs there is no small supply with us.


s: Side by side in the carriage ensconced, the two men


s: Began to converse somewhat drowsily, when


s: Alfred suddenly thought--"Here's a man of ripe age,


s: At my side, by his fellows reputed as sage,


s: Who looks happy, and therefore who must have been wise;


s: Suppose I with caution reveal to his eyes


s: Some few of the reasons which make me believe


s: That I neither am happy nor wise? 'twould relieve


s: And enlighten, perchance, my own darkness and doubt."


s: For which purpose a feeler he softly put out.


s: Ask'd, and pass'd from the question at once with a smile at


s: Its utter futility.  Had he address'd it


s: To Ridley MacNab, he at least had confess'd it


s: Admitted discussion! and certainly no man


s: Could more promptly have answer'd the sceptical Roman


s: Than Ridley.  Hear some street astronomer talk!


s: Grant him two or three hearers, a morsel of chalk,


s: And forthwith on the pavement he'll sketch you the scheme


s: Of the heavens.  Then hear him enlarge on his theme!


s: Not afraid of La Place, nor of Arago, he!


s: He'll prove you the whole plan in plain A B C.


s: Here's your sun--call him A; B's the moon; it is clear


s: How the rest of the alphabet brings up the rear


s: Of the planets.  Now ask Arago, ask La Place,


s: (Your sages, who speak with the heavens face to face!)


s: To your point-blank inquiry, my friends! not a word


s: Will you get for your pains from their sad lips.  Alas!


s: Not a drop from the bottle that's quite full will pass.


s: 'Tis the half-empty vessel that freest emits


s: The water that's in it.  'Tis thus with men's wits;


s: Or at least with their knowledge.  A man's capability


s: Of imparting to others a truth with facility


s: Is proportion'd forever with painful exactness


s: To the portable nature, the vulgar compactness,


s: The minuteness in size, or the lightness in weight,


s: Of the truth he imparts.  So small coins circulate


s: More freely than large ones.  A beggar asks alms,


s: And we fling him a sixpence, nor feel any qualms;


s: But if every street charity shook an investment,


s: Or each beggar to clothe we must strip off a vestment,


s: The length of the process would limit the act;


s: And therefore the truth that's summ'd up in a tract


s: On what spoonfuls of truth he was suffer'd to feed


s: By Sir Ridley, I know not.  This only I know,


s: That the two men thus talking continued to go


s: Onward somehow, together--on into the night--


s: The midnight--in which they escape from our sight.


s: And meanwhile a world had been changed in its place,


s: And those glittering chains that o'er blue balmy space


s: Hang the blessing of darkness, had drawn out of sight


s: To solace unseen hemispheres, the soft night;


s: And the dew of the dayspring benignly descended,


s: And the fair morn to all things new sanction extended,


s: In the smile of the East.  And the lark soaring on,


s: Lost in light, shook the dawn with a song from the sun.


s: From the noon, when they pass'd through the thick passion flowers


s: The small house where their carriage now stopp'd at Bigorre.


s: And more fair than the flowers, more fresh than the dew,


s: With her white morning robe flitting joyously through


s: The dark shrubs with which the soft hillside was clothed,


s: Alfred Vargrave perceived, where he paused, his betrothed.


s: Matilda sprang to him, at once, with a face


s: Of such sunny sweetness, such gladness, such grace,


s: And radiant confidence, childlike delight,


s: That his whole heart upbraided itself at that sight.


s: And he murmur'd, or sigh'd, "O, how could I have stray'd


s: From this sweet child, or suffer'd in aught to invade


s: Her young claim on my life, though it were for an hour,


s: He whisper'd her softly," my heart unto thee


s: Is return'd, as returns to the rose the wild bee!"


s: "And will wander no more?" laughed Matilda.


s: He repeated.  And, low to himself, "Yes, 'tis o'er!


s: My course, too, is decided, Lucile!  Was I blind


s: To have dream'd that these clever Frenchwomen of mind


s: Could satisfy simply a plain English heart,


s: Of the drama is over.  The curtain falls furl'd


s: On the actors within it--the Heart, and the World.


s: Woo'd and wooer have play'd with the riddle of life,--


s: Yet, ere bidding farewell to Lucile de Nevers,


s: Hear her own heart's farewell in this letter of hers.


s: "Once more, O my friend, to your arms and your heart,


s: And the places of old... never, never to part!


s: Once more to the palm, and the fountain!  Once more


s: To the land of my birth, and the deep skies of yore


s: From the cities of Europe, pursued by the fret


s: Of their turmoil wherever my footsteps are set;


s: From the children that cry for the birth, and behold,


s: There is no strength to bear them--old Time is SO old!


s: From the world's weary masters, that come upon earth


s: Sapp'd and mined by the fever they bear from their birth:


s: From the men of small stature, mere parts of a crowd,


s: Born too late, when the strength of the world hath been bow'd;


s: Back,--back to the Orient, from whose sunbright womb


s: Sprang the giants which now are no more, in the bloom


s: And the beauty of times that are faded forever!


s: To the palms! to the tombs! to the still Sacred River!


s: Where I too, the child of a day that is done,


s: First leaped into life, and look'd up at the sun,


s: Back again, back again, to the hill-tops of home


s: I come, O my friend, my consoler, I come!


s: Are the three intense stars, that we watch'd night by night


s: Burning broad on the band of Orion, as bright?


s: Are the large Indian moons as serene as of old,


s: When, as children, we gather'd the moonbeams for gold?


s: Do you yet recollect me, my friend?  Do you still


s: Remember the free games we play'd on the hill,


s: 'Mid those huge stones up-heav'd, where we recklessly trod


s: O'er the old ruin'd fane of the old ruin'd god?


s: How he frown'd while around him we carelessly play'd!


s: That frown on my life ever after hath stay'd,


s: Like the shade of a solemn experience upcast


s: From some vague supernatural grief in the past.


s: For the poor god, in pain, more than anger, he frown'd,


s: To perceive that our youth, though so fleeting, had found,


s: In its transient and ignorant gladness, the bliss


s: Which his science divine seem'd divinely to miss.


s: The free child, whose glad childhood myself I forget.


s: My heart is a storm-beaten ark, wildly hurl'd


s: O'er the whirlpools of time, with the wrecks of a world:


s: The dove from my bosom hath flown far away:


s: It is flown and returns not, though many a day


s: Have I watch'd from the windows of life for its coming.


s: Friend, I sigh for repose, I am weary of roaming.


s: Far away, o'er the waves of the wandering sea:


s: I know not what rainbow may yet, from far hills,


s: Lift the promise of hope, the cessation of ills:


s: But a voice, like the voice of my youth, in my breast


s: Wakes and whispers me on--to the East! to the East!


s: Shall I find the child's heart that I left there? or find


s: The lost youth I recall with its pure peace of mind?


s: Alas! who shall number the drops of the rain?


s: Or give to the dead leaves their greenness again?


s: Who shall seal up the caverns the earthquake hath rent?


s: Who shall bring forth the winds that within them are pent?


s: To a voice who shall render an image? or who


s: From the heats of the noontide shall gather the dew?


s: I have burn'd out within me the fuel of life.


s: Wherefore lingers the flame?  Rest is sweet after strife.


s: I had meant in these lines to regather, and send


s: To our old home, my life's scatter'd links.  But 'tis vain!


s: Each attempt seems to shatter the chaplet again;


s: Only fit now for fingers like mine to run o'er,


s: Who return, a recluse, to those cloisters of yore


s: Does it seem to me now since the quick, scorching tears,


s: While I wrote to you, splash'd out a girl's premature


s: Moans of pain at what women in silence endure!


s: To your eyes, friend of mine, and to your eyes alone,


s: That now long-faded page of my life hath been shown


s: Which recorded my heart's birth, and death, as you know,


s: I seem'd reading it backward, that page!  Why explain


s: Whence or how?  The old dream of my life rose again.


s: It is over.  The leaf trodden down in the mould


s: Is not to the forest more lost than to me


s: That emotion.  I bury it here by the sea


s: Which will bear me anon far away from the shore


s: Of a land which my footsteps will visit no more.


s: And a heart's requiescat I write on that grave.


s: Hark! the sigh of the wind, and the sound of the wave,


s: Seem like voices of spirits that whisper me home!


s: I come, O you whispering voices, I come!


s: As a Santon receives to his dwelling of stone


s: In silence some pilgrim the midnight may bring:


s: Hath paused in his flight from some city of doom,


s: Or only a wayfarer stray'd in the gloom.


s: This only I know: that in Europe at least


s: Lives the craft or the power that must master our East.


s: Wherefore strive where the gods must themselves yield at last?


s: Both they and their altars pass by with the Past.


s: The gods of the household Time thrust from the shelf;


s: And I seem as unreal and weird to myself


s: I turned to my birthplace, the birthplace of morn,


s: And the light of those lands where the great sun is born!


s: Spread your arms, O my friend! on your breast let me feel


s: Hail, Muse!  But each Muse by this time has, I know,


s: Been used up, and Apollo has bent his own bow


s: All too long; so I leave unassaulted the portal


s: Of Olympus, and only invoke here a mortal.


s: Hail, Murray!--not Lindley,--but Murray and Son.


s: Hail, omniscient, beneficent, great Two-in-One!


s: In Albermarle Street may thy temple long stand!


s: Long enlighten'd and led by thine erudite hand,


s: May each novice in science nomadic unravel


s: May each inn-keeper knave long thy judgment revere,


s: And the postboys of Europe regard thee with fear;


s: While they feel, in the silence of baffled extortion,


s: That knowledge is power!  Long, long, like that portion


s: Of the national soil which the Greek exile took


s: In his baggage wherever he went, may thy book


s: Cheer each poor British pilgrim, who trusts to thy wit


s: Not to pay through his nose just for following it!


s: May'st thou long, O instructor! preside o'er his way,


s: And teach him alike what to praise and to pay!


s: Thee, pursuing this pathway of song, once again


s: I invoke, lest, unskill'd, I should wander in vain.


s: To my call be propitious, nor, churlish, refuse


s: Thy great accents to lend to the lips of my Muse;


s: For I sing of the Naiads who dwell 'mid the stems


s: Of the green linden-trees by the waters of Ems.


s: Yes! thy spirit descends upon mine, O John Murray!


s: And I start--with thy book--for the Baths in a hurry.


s: "At Coblentz a bridge of boats crosses the Rhine;


s: And from thence the road, winding by Ehrenbreitstein,


s: No custom-house here since the Zollverein."  See


s: Here the lover of nature allows to discern,


s: In varying prospect, a rich wooded dale:


s: In the foliage observable here: and, moreover,


s: The soil is carbonic.  The road, under cover


s: Of the grape-clad and mountainous upland that hems


s: Round this beautiful spot, brings the traveller to--"EMS.


s: A Schnellpost from Frankfort arrives every day.


s: At the Kurhaus (the old Ducal mansion) you pay


s: Eight florins for lodgings.  A Restaurateur


s: Is attach'd to the place; but most travellers prefer


s: (Including, indeed, many persons of note)


s: To dine at the usual-priced table d'hote.


s: Through the town runs the Lahn, the steep green banks of which


s: Two rows of white picturesque houses enrich;


s: And between the high road and the river is laid


s: Out a sort of a garden, call'd 'THE Promenade.'


s: Female visitors here, who may make up their mind


s: To ascend to the top of these mountains, will find


s: On the banks of the stream, saddled all the day long,


s: Troops of donkeys--sure-footed--proverbially strong;"


s: And the traveller at Ems may remark, as he passes,


s: Here, as elsewhere, the women run after the asses.


s: 'Mid the world's weary denizens bound for these springs


s: In the month when the merle on the maple-bough sings,


s: Pursued to the place from dissimilar paths


s: By a similar sickness, there came to the Baths


s: Four sufferers--each stricken deep through the heart,


s: Or the head, by the self-same invisible dart


s: Of the arrow that flieth unheard in the noon,


s: From the sickness that walketh unseen in the moon,


s: Through this great lazaretto of life, wherein each


s: Infects with his own sores the next within reach.


s: First of these were a young English husband and wife,


s: Grown weary ere half through the journey of life.


s: O Nature, say where, thou gray mother of earth,


s: Is the strength of thy youth? that thy womb brings to birth


s: Only old men to-day!  On the winds, as of old,


s: Thy voice in its accent is joyous and bold;


s: Thy forests are green as of yore; and thine oceans


s: Yet move in the might of their ancient emotions:


s: But man--thy last birth and thy best--is no more


s: Life's free lord, that look'd up to the starlight of yore,


s: With the faith on the brow, and the fire in the eyes,


s: The firm foot on the earth, the high heart in the skies;


s: But a gray-headed infant, defrauded of youth,


s: Was young, fair, and gentle; and never was given


s: To more heavenly eyes the pure azure of heaven.


s: Never yet did the sun touch to ripples of gold


s: Tresses brighter than those which her soft hand unroll'd


s: From her noble and innocent brow, when she rose,


s: An Aurora, at dawn, from her balmy repose,


s: And into the mirror the bloom and the blush


s: Of her beauty broke, glowing; like light in a gush


s: But rarely a nature more sound or more sweet--


s: Eyes brighter--brows whiter--a figure more fair--


s: Or lovelier lengths of more radiant hair--


s: Than thine, Lady Alfred!  And here I aver


s: (May those that have seen thee declare if I err)


s: That not all the oysters in Britain contain


s: Who may know more than I of the intimate life


s: Of the pearl with the oyster,--why yet in his wife,


s: In despite of her beauty--and most when he felt


s: His soul to the sense of her loveliness melt--


s: Lord Alfred miss'd something he sought for: indeed,


s: The more that he miss'd it the greater the need;


s: Till it seem'd to himself he could willingly spare


s: All the charms that he found for the one charm not there.


s: For the blessings Life lends us, it strictly demands


s: The worth of their full usufruct at our hands.


s: And the value of all things exists, not indeed


s: In themselves, but man's use of them, feeding man's need.


s: Alfred Vargrave, in wedding with beauty and youth,


s: Had embraced both Ambition and Wealth.  Yet in truth


s: Unfulfill'd the ambition, and sterile the wealth


s: (In a life paralyzed by a moral ill-health),


s: Had remain'd, while the beauty and youth, unredeem'd


s: From a vague disappointment at all things, but seem'd


s: Day by day to reproach him in silence for all


s: That lost youth in himself they had fail'd to recall.


s: No career had he follow'd, no object obtain'd


s: In the world by those worldly advantages gain'd


s: From nuptials beyond which once seem'd to appear,


s: Lit by love, the broad path of a brilliant career.


s: All that glitter'd and gleam'd through the moonlight of youth


s: With a glory so fair, now that manhood in truth


s: Grasp'd and gather'd it, seem'd like that false fairy gold


s: Which leaves in the hand only moss, leaves, and mould!


s: Fairy gold! moss and leaves! and the young Fairy Bride?


s: Lived there yet fairy-lands in the face at his side?


s: Say, O friend, if at evening thou ever hast watch'd


s: Some pale and impalpable vapor, detach'd


s: From the dim and disconsolate earth, rise and fall


s: O'er the light of a sweet serene star, until all


s: The chill'd splendor reluctantly waned in the deep


s: Of its own native heaven?  Even so seem'd to creep


s: O'er that fair and ethereal face, day by day,


s: While the radiant vermeil, subsiding away,


s: Hid its light in the heart, the faint gradual veil


s: As silent her lord grew: and both, as they eyed


s: Each the other askance, turn'd, and secretly sigh'd.


s: Ah, wise friend, what avails all experience can give?


s: True, we know what life is--but, alas! do we live?


s: The grammar of life we have gotten by heart,


s: But life's self we have made a dead language--an art,


s: Not a voice.  Could we speak it, but once, as 'twas spoken


s: When the silence of passion the first time was broken!


s: Cuvier knew the world better than Adam, no doubt;


s: But the last man, at best, was but learned about


s: What the first, without learning, ENJOYED.  What art thou


s: A science.  What wert thou to him that from ocean


s: First beheld thee appear?  A surprise,--an emotion!


s: When life leaps in the veins, when it beats in the heart,


s: When it thrills as it fills every animate part,


s: Where lurks it? how works it?... We scarcely detect it.


s: But life goes: the heart dies: haste, O leech, and dissect it!


s: Hath so finger'd life's hornbook, so blurr'd every page,


s: That the old glad romance, the gay chivalrous story


s: With its fables of faery, its legends of glory,


s: Is turn'd to a tedious instruction, not new


s: To the children that read it insipidly through.


s: We know too much of Love ere we love.  We can trace


s: Nothing new, unexpected, or strange in his face


s: When we see it at last.  'Tis the same little Cupid,


s: With the same dimpled cheek, and the smile almost stupid,


s: We have seen in our pictures, and stuck on our shelves,


s: And copied a hundred times over, ourselves,


s: And wherever we turn, and whatever we do,


s: Still, that horrible sense of the deja connu!


s: Perchance 'twas the fault of the life that they led;


s: Perchance 'twas the fault of the novels they read;


s: Perchance 'twas a fault in themselves; I am bound not


s: To say: this I know--that these two creatures found not


s: In each other some sign they expected to find


s: Of a something unnamed in the heart or the mind;


s: And, missing it, each felt a right to complain


s: Of a sadness which each found no word to explain.


s: Whatever it was, the world noticed not it


s: In the light-hearted beauty, the light-hearted wit.


s: Still, as once with the actors in Greece, 'tis the case,


s: Each must speak to the crowd with a mask on his face.


s: Praise follow'd Matilda wherever she went,


s: She was flatter'd.  Can flattery purchase content?


s: Yes.  While to its voice for a moment she listen'd,


s: The young cheek still bloom'd and the soft eyes still glisten'd;


s: And her lord, when, like one of those light vivid things


s: That glide down the gauzes of summer with wings


s: Of rapturous radiance, unconscious she moved


s: Through that buzz of inferior creatures, which proved


s: Her beauty, their envy, one moment forgot,


s: 'Mid the many charms there, the one charm that was not:


s: And when o'er her beauty enraptured he bow'd,


s: (As they turn'd to each other, each flush'd from the crowd,)


s: And murmur'd those praises which yet seem'd more dear


s: Than the praises of others had grown to her ear,


s: She, too, ceased awhile her own fate to regret:


s: "Yes!... he loves me," she sigh'd; "this is love, then--and YET!"


s: Ah, that YET! fatal word! 'tis the moral of all


s: Thought and felt, seen or done, in this world since the Fall!


s: It stands at the end of each sentence we learn;


s: It flits in the vista of all we discern;


s: To find in to-morrow what flies with to-day.


s: 'Twas the same little fatal and mystical word


s: That now, like a mirage, led my lady and lord


s: To the waters of Ems from the waters of Marah;


s: Drooping Pilgrims in Fashion's blank, arid Sahara!


s: At the same time, pursued by a spell much the same,


s: To these waters two other worn pilgrims there came:


s: One a man, one a woman: just now, at the latter,


s: As the Reader I mean by and by to look at her


s: And judge for himself, I will not even glance.


s: Of the self-crown'd young kings of the Fashion in France


s: Whose resplendent regalia so dazzled the sight,


s: Whose horse was so perfect, whose boots were so bright,


s: Who so hail'd in the salon, so mark'd in the Bois,


s: Who so welcomed by all, as Eugene de Luvois?


s: Of all the smooth-brow'd premature debauchees


s: In that town of all towns, where Debauchery sees


s: On the forehead of youth her mark everywhere graven,--


s: In Paris I mean,--where the streets are all paven


s: By those two fiends whom Milton saw bridging the way


s: From Hell to this planet,--who, haughty and gay,


s: The free rebel of life, bound or led by no law,


s: Walk'd that causeway as bold as Eugene de Luvois?


s: Yes! he march'd through the great masquerade, loud of tongue,


s: Bold of brow: but the motley he mask'd in, it hung


s: So loose, trail'd so wide, and appear'd to impede


s: So strangely at times the vex'd effort at speed,


s: That a keen eye might guess it was made--not for him,


s: But some brawler more stalwart of stature and limb.


s: That it irk'd him, in truth, you at times could divine,


s: For when low was the music, and spilt was the wine,


s: He would clutch at the garment, as though it oppress'd


s: And stifled some impulse that choked in his breast.


s: What! he,... the light sport of his frivolous ease!


s: Was he, too, a prey to a mortal disease?


s: My friend, hear a parable: ponder it well:


s: For a moral there is in the tale that I tell.


s: And there, while I laugh'd at Grassot and Arnal,


s: My eye fell on the face of a man at my side;


s: Every time that he laugh'd I observed that he sigh'd,


s: As though vex'd to be pleased.  I remark'd that he sat


s: Ill at ease on his seat, and kept twirling his hat


s: In his hand, with a look of unquiet abstraction.


s: I inquired the cause of his dissatisfaction.


s: "Sir," he said, "if what vexes me here you would know,


s: Learn that, passing this way some few half-hours ago,


s: I walk'd into the Francais, to look at Rachel.


s: (Sir, that woman in Phedre is a miracle!)--Well,


s: I ask'd for a box: they were occupied all:


s: For a seat in the balcony: all taken! a stall:


s: Taken too: the whole house was as full as could be,--


s: Not a hole for a rat!  I had just time to see


s: The lady I love tete-a-tete with a friend


s: In a box out of reach at the opposite end:


s: Then the crowd push'd me out.  What was left me to do?


s: I tried for the tragedy... que voulez-vous?


s: Every place for the tragedy book'd!... mon ami.


s: The farce was close by:... at the farce me voici.


s: The piece is a new one: and Grassot plays well:


s: There is drollery, too, in that fellow Ravel:


s: And Hyacinth's nose is superb:... yet I meant


s: My evening elsewhere, and not thus to have spent.


s: Fate orders these things by her will, not by ours!


s: Sir, mankind is the sport of invisible powers."


s: I once met the Duc de Luvois for a moment;


s: And I mark'd, when his features I fix'd in my comment,


s: O'er those features the same vague disquietude stray


s: I had seen on the face of my friend at the play;


s: And I thought that he too, very probably, spent


s: His evenings not wholly as first he had meant.


s: O source of the holiest joys we inherit,


s: O Sorrow, thou solemn, invisible spirit!


s: Ill fares it with man when, through life's desert sand,


s: Grown impatient too soon for the long-promised land,


s: He turns from the worship of thee, as thou art,


s: An expressless and imageless truth in the heart,


s: And the gold of the Godless, to make to himself


s: And then bows to the sound of the cymbal the knee.


s: The sorrows we make to ourselves are false gods:


s: Like the prophets of Baal, our bosoms with rods


s: We may smite, we may gash at our hearts till they bleed,


s: The land is athirst, and cries out!... 'tis in vain;


s: The great blessing of Heaven descends not in rain.


s: It was night; and the lamps were beginning to gleam


s: Through the long linden-trees, folded each in his dream,


s: From that building which looks like a temple... and is


s: The Temple of--Health?  Nay, but enter! I wis


s: One votary out of that sallow-cheek'd crew


s: Of Courlanders, Wallacs, Greeks, affable Russians,


s: Explosive Parisians, potato-faced Prussians;


s: And the dwellers in Pontus"... My muse will not weary


s: More lines with the list of them... cur fremuere?


s: What is it they murmur, and mutter, and hum?


s: Into what Pandemonium is Pentecost come?


s: Oh, what is the name of the god at whose fane


s: Every nation is mix'd in so motley a train?


s: What weird Kabala lies on those tables outspread?


s: To what oracle turns with attention each head?


s: What holds these pale worshippers each so devout,


s: And what are those hierophants busied about?


s: Here passes, repasses, and flits to and fro,


s: And rolls without ceasing the great Yes and No:


s: Round this altar alternate the weird Passions dance,


s: And the God worshipp'd here is the old God of Chance.


s: Through the wide-open doors of the distant saloon


s: Flute, hautboy, and fiddle are squeaking in tune;


s: And an indistinct music forever is roll'd,


s: From a vision, that flits in a luminous haze,


s: It fleets through the doorway, it gleams on the glass,


s: And the weird words pursue it--Rouge, Impair, et Passe!


s: Like a sound borne in sleep through such dreams as encumber


s: With haggard emotions the wild wicked slumber


s: Of some witch when she seeks, through a nightmare, to grab at


s: The hot hoof of the fiend, on her way to the Sabbat.


s: Some few evenings ago (for the season as yet


s: Was but young) in this selfsame Pavilion of Chance.


s: The idler from England, the idler from France,


s: Shook hands, each, of course, with much cordial pleasure:


s: An acquaintance at Ems is to most men a treasure,


s: And they both were too well-bred in aught to betray


s: One discourteous remembrance of things pass'd away.


s: 'Twas a sight that was pleasant, indeed, to be seen,


s: These friends exchange greetings;--the men who had been


s: Is why, on the night I am speaking about,


s: My Lord Alfred sat down by himself at roulette,


s: Without one suspicion his bosom to fret,


s: Although he had left, with his pleasant French friend,


s: Matilda, half vex'd, at the room's farthest end.


s: Lord Alfred his combat with Fortune began


s: With a few modest thalers--away they all ran--


s: The reserve follow'd fast in the rear.  As his purse


s: Grew lighter his spirits grew sensibly worse.


s: One needs not a Bacon to find a cause for it:


s: 'Tis an old law in physics--Natura abhorret


s: Vacuum--and my lord, as he watch'd his last crown


s: Tumble into the bank, turn'd away with a frown


s: Which the brows of Napoleon himself might have deck'd


s: On that day of all days when an empire was wreck'd


s: On thy plain, Waterloo, and he witness'd the last


s: Of his favorite Guard cut to pieces, aghast!


s: Just then Alfred felt, he could scarcely tell why,


s: Within him the sudden strange sense that some eye


s: Had long been intently regarding him there,--


s: That some gaze was upon him too searching to bear.


s: He rose and look'd up.  Was it fact?  Was it fable?


s: Was it dream?  Was it waking?  Across the green table,


s: That face, with its features so fatally known--


s: Those eyes, whose deep gaze answer'd strangely his own


s: What was it?  Some ghost from its grave come again?


s: Some cheat of a feverish, fanciful brain?


s: Or was it herself with those deep eyes of hers,


s: And that face unforgotten?--Lucile de Nevers!


s: Ah, well that pale woman a phantom might seem,


s: Who appear'd to herself but the dream of a dream!


s: 'Neath those features so calm, that fair forehead so hush'd,


s: That pale cheek forever by passion unflush'd,


s: There yawn'd an insatiate void, and there heaved


s: A tumult of restless regrets unrelieved.


s: The brief noon of beauty was passing away,


s: And the chill of the twilight fell, silent and gray,


s: O'er that deep, self-perceived isolation of soul.


s: And now, as all around her the dim evening stole,


s: With its weird desolations, she inwardly grieved


s: For the want of that tender assurance received


s: From the warmth of a whisper, the glance of an eye,


s: Which should say, or should look, "Fear thou naught,--I am by!"


s: And thus, through that lonely and self-fix'd existence,


s: Crept a vague sense of silence, and horror, and distance:


s: A strange sort of faint-footed fear,--like a mouse


s: That comes out, when 'tis dark, in some old ducal house


s: Long deserted, where no one the creature can scare,


s: And the forms on the arras are all that move there.


s: In Rome,--in the Forum,--there open'd one night


s: A gulf.  All the augurs turn'd pale at the sight.


s: In this omen the anger of Heaven they read.


s: Men consulted the gods: then the oracle said:--


s: "Ever open this gulf shall endure, till at last


s: That which Rome hath most precious within it be cast."


s: The Romans threw in it their corn and their stuff,


s: But the gulf yawn'd as wide.  Rome seem'd likely enough


s: To be ruin'd ere this rent in her heart she could choke.


s: Then Curtius, revering the oracle, spoke:


s: "O Quirites! to this Heaven's question is come:


s: What to Rome is most precious?  The manhood of Rome."


s: But the moral applies many ways, and is true.


s: How, for hearts rent in twain, shall the curse be destroy'd?


s: 'Tis a warm human one that must fill up the void.


s: Through many a heart runs the rent in the fable;


s: Back she came from her long hiding-place, at the source


s: Of the sunrise; where, fair in their fabulous course,


s: To the cities of Europe--the scenes, and the men,


s: And the life, and the ways, she had left: still oppress'd


s: With the same hungry heart, and unpeaceable breast.


s: The same, to the same things!  The world she had quitted


s: With a sigh, with a sigh she re-enter'd.  Soon flitted


s: Through the salons and clubs, to the great satisfaction


s: Of Paris, the news of a novel attraction.


s: The enchanting Lucile, the gay Countess, once more,


s: To her old friend, the World, had reopen'd her door;


s: The World came, and shook hands, and was pleased and amused


s: With what the World then went away and abused.


s: From the woman's fair fame it in naught could detract:


s: 'Twas the woman's free genius it vex'd and attack'd


s: With a sneer at her freedom of action and speech.


s: But its light careless cavils, in truth, could not reach


s: The lone heart they aim'd at.  Her tears fell beyond


s: The world's limit, to feel that the world could respond


s: To that heart's deepest, innermost yearning, in naught,


s: 'Twas no longer this earth's idle inmates she sought:


s: In the woman's gay court the first men of the age.


s: Some had genius; and all, wealth of mind to confer


s: On the world: but that wealth was not lavish'd for her.


s: For the genius of man, though so human indeed,


s: When call'd out to man's help by some great human need,


s: The right to a man's chance acquaintance refuses


s: To use what it hoards for mankind's nobler uses.


s: Genius touches the world at but one point alone


s: Of that spacious circumference, never quite known


s: To the world; all the infinite number of lines


s: That radiate thither a mere point combines,


s: But one only,--some central affection apart


s: From the reach of the world, in which Genius is Heart,


s: And love, life's fine centre, includes heart and mind,


s: And therefore it was that Lucile sigh'd to find


s: Men of genius appear, one and all in her ken,


s: When they stoop'd themselves to it, as mere clever men;


s: Artists, statesmen, and they in whose works are unfurl'd


s: Worlds new-fashioned for man, as mere men of the world.


s: And so, as alone now she stood, in the sight


s: Of the sunset of youth, with her face from the light,


s: And watch'd her own shadow grow long at her feet,


s: As though stretch'd out, the shade of some OTHER to meet,


s: The woman felt homeless and childless: in scorn


s: She seem'd mock'd by the voices of children unborn;


s: And when from these sombre reflections away


s: She turn'd, with a sigh, to that gay world, more gay


s: For her presence within it, she knew herself friendless;


s: That her path led from peace, and that path appear'd endless!


s: That even her beauty had been but a snare,


s: And her wit sharpen'd only the edge of despair.


s: With a face all transfigured and flush'd by surprise,


s: Alfred turn'd to Lucile.  With those deep searching eyes


s: She look'd into his own.  Not a word that she said,


s: Not a look, not a blush, one emotion betray'd.


s: She seem'd to smile through him, at something beyond:


s: When she answer'd his questions, she seem'd to respond


s: To some voice in herself.  With no trouble descried,


s: To each troubled inquiry she calmly replied.


s: Not so he.  At the sight of that face back again


s: To his mind came the ghost of a long-stifled pain,


s: A remember'd resentment, half check'd by a wild


s: And relentful regret like a motherless child


s: Softly seeking admittance, with plaintive appeal,


s: To the heart which resisted its entrance.


s: And himself thus, however, with freedom allow'd


s: To old friends, talking still side by side, left the crowd


s: By the crowd unobserved.  Not unnoticed, however,


s: By the Duke and Matilda.  Matilda had never


s: Or by instinct, the sudden half-menacing glance


s: Which the Duke, when he witness'd their meeting, had turn'd


s: On Lucile and Lord Alfred; and, scared, she discern'd


s: On his feature the shade of a gloom so profound


s: That she shudder'd instinctively.  Deaf to the sound


s: Of her voice, to some startled inquiry of hers


s: He replied not, but murmur'd, "Lucile de Nevers


s: Once again then? so be it!"  In the mind of that man,


s: At that moment, there shaped itself vaguely the plan


s: Of a purpose malignant and dark, such alone


s: (To his own secret heart but imperfectly shown)


s: As could spring from the cloudy, fierce chaos of thought


s: By which all his nature to tumult was wrought.


s: "So!" he thought, "they meet thus: and reweave the old charm!


s: And she hangs on his voice, and she leans on his arm,


s: And she heeds me not, seeks me not, recks not of me!


s: Oh, what if I show'd her that I, too, can be


s: Loved by one--her own rival--more fair and more young?"


s: The serpent rose in him; a serpent which, stung,


s: Fix'd upon them, Lucile and my lord saunter'd by,


s: In converse which seem'd to be earnest.  A smile


s: To the Duke and Matilda returns, gentle Reader.


s: The Duke with that sort of aggressive false praise


s: Which is meant a resentful remonstrance to raise


s: From a listener (as sometimes a judge, just before


s: He pulls down the black cap, very gently goes o'er


s: The case for the prisoner, and deals tenderly


s: With the man he is minded to hang by and by),


s: Had referr'd to Lucile, and then stopp'd to detect


s: In the face of Matilda the growing effect


s: Of the words he had dropp'd.  There's no weapon that slays


s: Its victim so surely (if well aim'd) as praise.


s: Thus, a pause on their converse had fallen: and now


s: Each was silent, preoccupied; thoughtful.


s: There are moments when silence, prolong'd and unbroken,


s: More expressive may be than all words ever spoken.


s: It is when the heart has an instinct of what


s: In the heart of another is passing.  And that


s: In the heart of Matilda, what was it?  Whence came


s: To her cheek on a sudden that tremulous flame?


s: Was the fact that Matilda was troubled.  Moreover


s: That trouble the Duke's presence seem'd to renew.


s: She, however, broke silence, the first of the two.


s: The Duke was too prudent to shatter the spell


s: Of a silence which suited his purpose so well.


s: She was plucking the leaves from a pale blush rose blossom


s: Which had fall'n from the nosegay she wore in her bosom.


s: "This poor flower," she said, "seems it not out of place


s: In this hot, lamplit air, with its fresh, fragile grace?"


s: She bent her head low as she spoke.  With a smile


s: The Duke watch'd her caressing the leaves all the while,


s: And continued on his side the silence.  He knew


s: This would force his companion their talk to renew


s: At the point that he wish'd; and Matilda divined


s: The significant pause with new trouble of mind.


s: She lifted one moment her head; but her look


s: Encounter'd the ardent regard of the Duke,


s: And dropp'd back on her flowret abash'd.  Then, still seeking


s: The assurance she fancied she show'd him by speaking,


s: She conceived herself safe in adopting again


s: The theme she should most have avoided just then.


s: True; you drew with emotion her portrait just now.


s: You mistook me completely!  You, madam, surpass


s: This lady as moonlight does lamplight; as youth


s: The fairest of falsehood surpasses; as nature


s: Surpasses art's masterpiece; ay, as the creature


s: Fresh and pure in its native adornment surpasses


s: All the charms got by heart at the world's looking-glasses!


s: "Yet you said,"--she continued with some trepidation,


s: "That you quite comprehended"... a slight hesitation


s: Shook the sentence,... "a passion so strong as"...


s: But not in a man that had once look'd at you.


s: She broke in, all more fair for one innocent blush.


s: "Between man and woman these things differ so!


s: It may be that the world pardons... (how should I know?)


s: In you what it visits on us; or 'tis true,


s: It may be that we women are better than you."


s: Who denies it?  Yet, madam, once more you mistake.


s: The world, in its judgment, some difference may make


s: 'Twixt the man and the woman, so far as respects


s: Its social enchantments; but not as affects


s: The one sentiment which it were easy to prove,


s: Is the sole law we look to the moment we love.


s: That may be.  Yet I think I should be less severe.


s: Although so inexperienced in such things, I fear


s: I have learn'd that the heart cannot always repress


s: Or account for the feelings which sway it.


s: That is too true, indeed!"... the Duke sigh'd.


s: For one moment in silence continued the twain.


s: At length the Duke slowly, as though he had needed


s: All this time to repress his emotions, proceeded:


s: "And yet!... what avails, then, to woman the gift


s: Of a beauty like yours, if it cannot uplift


s: Her heart from the reach of one doubt, one despair,


s: One pang of wrong'd love, to which women less fair


s: As though by resentment impell'd he went on:--


s: "The name that you bear, it is whisper'd, you took


s: From love, not convention.  Well, lady,... that look


s: So excited, so keen, on the face you must know


s: Throughout all its expressions--that rapturous glow,


s: Those eloquent features--significant eyes--


s: Which that pale woman sees, yet betrays no surprise,"


s: (He pointed his hand, as he spoke, to the door,


s: Fixing with it Lucile and Lord Alfred)... "before,


s: Have you ever once seen what just now you may view


s: In that face so familiar?... no, lady, 'tis new.


s: Young, lovely, and loving, no doubt, as you are,


s: He look'd at her--paused--felt if thus far


s: The ground held yet.  The ardor with which he had spoken,


s: This close, rapid question, thus suddenly broken,


s: Inspired in Matilda a vague sense of fear,


s: As though some indefinite danger were near.


s: With composure, however, at once she replied:--


s: "'Tis three years since the day when I first was a bride,


s: And my husband I never had cause to suspect;


s: Nor ever have stoop'd, sir, such cause to detect.


s: Yet if in his looks or his acts I should see--


s: See, or fancy--some moment's oblivion of me,


s: I trust that I too should forget it,--for you


s: Must have seen that my heart is my husband's."


s: On her cheek, with the effort wherewith to the Duke


s: She had uttered this vague and half-frightened rebuke,


s: Was white as the rose in her hand.  The last word


s: Seem'd to die on her lip, and could scarcely be heard.


s: By the Duke in the words he that evening had said.


s: There, half drown'd by the music, Matilda, that night,


s: Had listen'd--long listen'd--no doubt, in despite


s: Of herself, to a voice she should never have heard,


s: And her heart by that voice had been troubled and stirr'd.


s: And so having suffer'd in silence his eye


s: To fathom her own, he resumed, with a sigh:


s: "Will you suffer me, lady, your thoughts to invade


s: By disclosing my own?  The position," he said,


s: "In which we so strangely seem placed may excuse


s: The frankness and force of the words which I use.


s: You say that your heart is your husband's: You say


s: That you love him.  You think so, of course, lady... nay,


s: Such a love, I admit, were a merit, no doubt.


s: But, trust me, no true love there can be without


s: Until now,--either thanks to a singular art


s: Of supreme self-control, you have held them all down


s: Unreveal'd in your heart,--or you never have known


s: Even one of those fierce irresistible pangs


s: Which deep passion engenders; that anguish which hangs


s: On the heart like a nightmare, by jealousy bred.


s: But if, lady, the love you describe, in the bed


s: Of a blissful security thus hath reposed


s: Undisturb'd, with mild eyelids on happiness closed,


s: Were it not to expose to a peril unjust,


s: And most cruel, that happy repose you so trust,


s: To meet, to receive, and, indeed, it may be,


s: For how long I know not, continue to see


s: A woman whose place rivals yours in the life


s: And the heart which not only your title of wife,


s: But also (forgive me!) your beauty alone,


s: Should have made wholly yours?--You, who gave all your own!


s: Reflect!--'tis the peace of existence you stake


s: On the turn of a die.  And for whose--for his sake?


s: While you witness this woman, the false point of view


s: From which she must now be regarded by you


s: Will exaggerate to you, whatever they be,


s: The charms I admit she possesses.  To me


s: They are trivial indeed; yet to your eyes, I fear


s: And foresee, they will true and intrinsic appear.


s: Self-unconscious, and sweetly unable to guess


s: How more lovely by far is the grace you possess,


s: You will wrong your own beauty.  The graces of art,


s: You will take for the natural charm of the heart;


s: Studied manners, the brilliant and bold repartee,


s: Will too soon in that fatal comparison be


s: To your fancy more fair than the sweet timid sense


s: Which, in shrinking, betrays its own best eloquence.


s: O then, lady, then, you will feel in your heart


s: The poisonous pain of a fierce jealous dart!


s: While you see her, yourself you no longer will see,--


s: You will hear her, and hear not yourself,--you will be


s: Your own power less great than her power will seem.


s: And I shall not be by your side, day by day,


s: In despite of your noble displeasure, to say


s: 'You are fairer than she, as the star is more fair


s: Than the diamond, the brightest that beauty can wear'"


s: This appeal, both by looks and by language, increased


s: The trouble Matilda felt grow in her breast.


s: Still she spoke with what calmness she could--


s: I thank you," she said, with a faint scornful smile,


s: "For your fervor in painting my fancied distress:


s: Allow me the right some surprise to express


s: At the zeal you betray in disclosing to me


s: "That zeal would not startle you, madam," he said,


s: "Could you read in my heart, as myself I have read,


s: The peculiar interest which causes that zeal--"


s: Matilda her terror no more could conceal.


s: "Duke," she answer'd in accents short, cold and severe,


s: As she rose from her seat, "I continue to hear;


s: But permit me to say, I no more understand."


s: "Forgive!" with a nervous appeal of the hand,


s: And a well-feign'd confusion of voice and of look,


s: "Forgive, oh, forgive me!" at once cried the Duke


s: "I forgot that you know me so slightly.  Your leave


s: I entreat (from your anger those words to retrieve)


s: For one moment to speak of myself,--for I think


s: And tears in his eyes, as he lifted them, glisten'd.


s: Matilda, despite of herself, sat and listen'd.


s: "Beneath an exterior which seems, and may be,


s: Worldly, frivolous, careless, my heart hides in me,"


s: He continued, "a sorrow which draws me to side


s: With all things that suffer.  Nay, laugh not," he cried,


s: For instance,--the beauty admired by all?


s: No! some plain, insignificant creature, who sits


s: Scorn'd of course by the beauties, and shunn'd by the wits.


s: All the world is accustom'd to wound, or neglect,


s: Or oppress, claims my heart and commands my respect.


s: I admit, to those charter'd redressers of wrong;


s: But I seek to console, where I can.  'Tis a part


s: Not brilliant, I own, yet its joys bring no smart."


s: These trite words, from the tone which he gave them, received


s: An appearance of truth which might well be believed


s: He continued... "O lady! alas, could you know


s: What injustice and wrong in this world I have seen!


s: Without a regret, I have known turn aside


s: To burst into heartbroken tears undescried!


s: On how many a lip have I witness'd the smile


s: Which but hid what was breaking the poor heart the while!"


s: Said Matilda, "Your life, it would seem, then, must be


s: "But at least that devotion small merit can boast,


s: For one day may yet come,--if ONE day at the most,--


s: When, perceiving at last all the difference--how great!--


s: Twixt the heart that neglects, and the heart that can wait,


s: Twixt the natures that pity, the natures that pain,


s: Some woman, that else might have pass'd in disdain


s: Or indifference by me,--in passing that day


s: Might pause with a word or a smile to repay


s: I must own that her welcome, perchance, was express'd


s: The more eagerly just for one twinge in her breast


s: Of a conscience disturb'd, and her smile not less warm,


s: Though she saw the Comtesse de Nevers on his arm.


s: The Duke turn'd and adjusted his collar.


s: "Good! the gods fight my battle to-night.  I foresee


s: That the family doctor's the part I must play.


s: Very well! but the patients my visits shall pay."


s: Lord Alfred presented Lucile to his wife;


s: And Matilda, repressing with effort the strife


s: Of emotions which made her voice shake, murmur'd low


s: Some faint, troubled greeting.  The Duke, with a bow


s: Which betoken'd a distant defiance, replied


s: To Lucile's startled cry, as surprised she descried


s: Her former gay wooer.  Anon, with the grace


s: Of that kindness which seeks to win kindness, her place


s: She assumed by Matilda, unconscious, perchance,


s: Or resolved not to notice the half-frighten'd glance,


s: Arose; and, in silence, relinquish'd his seat.


s: One must own that the moment was awkward for all


s: But nevertheless, before long, the strange thrall


s: Of Lucile's gracious tact was by every one felt,


s: And from each the reserve seem'd, reluctant, to melt;


s: Thus, conversing together, the whole of the four


s: Eugene de Luvois, who had fallen behind,


s: By Lucile, after some hesitation, was join'd.


s: With a gesture of gentle and kindly appeal,


s: Which appear'd to imply, without words, "Let us feel


s: That the friendship between us in years that are fled,


s: Has survived one mad moment forgotten," she said:


s: Of frigid, resentful, and sullen rebuke;


s: And then, with a more than significant glance


s: At Matilda, maliciously answer'd, "Perchance.


s: I have here an attraction.  And you?" he return'd.


s: Lucile's eyes had follow'd his own, and discern'd


s: And, still watching Matilda, she answer'd, "I too."


s: And he thought, as with that word she left him, she sigh'd.


s: The next moment her place she resumed by the side


s: Of Matilda; and they soon shook hands at the gate


s: The Duke and Lord Alfred again, thro' the glooms


s: Of the thick linden alley, return'd to the Rooms.


s: His cigar each had lighted, a moment before,


s: At the inn, as they turn'd, arm-in-arm, from the door.


s: Ems cigars do not cheer a man's spirits, experto


s: The Duke's thoughts to language half consciously pass'd.


s: The woman for whom we two madmen of yore


s: (Laugh, mon cher Alfred, laugh!) were about to destroy


s: Raise the ghost of that once troubled time.  Say! can you


s: Recall it with coolness and quietude now?


s: Now? yes! I, mon cher, am a true Parisien:


s: Now, the red revolution, the tocsin, and then


s: The dance and the play.  I am now at the play.


s: At the play, are you now?  Then perchance I now may


s: Presume, Duke, to ask you what, ever until


s: Franc jeu! on the table my cards I spread out.


s: Duke, you were called to a meeting (no doubt


s: You remember it yet) with Lucile.  It was night


s: When you went; and before you return'd it was light.


s: We met: you accosted me then with a brow


s: Bright with triumph: your words (you remember them now!)


s: Did she not then, herself, the Comtesse de Nevers,


s: Solve your riddle to-night with those soft lips of hers?


s: In our converse to-night we avoided the past.


s: But the question I ask should be answer'd at last:


s: By you, if you will; if you will not, by her.


s: Indeed? but that question, milord, can it stir


s: Such an interest in you, if your passion be o'er?


s: Yes.  Esteem may remain, although love be no more.


s: Lucile ask'd me, this night, to my wife (understand,


s: To MY WIFE!) to present her.  I did so.  Her hand


s: Has clasp'd that of Matilda.  We gentlemen owe


s: Respect to the name that is ours: and, if so,


s: To the woman that bears it a twofold respect.


s: Answer, Duc de Luvois!  Did Lucile then reject


s: The proffer you made of your hand and your name?


s: Or did you on her love then relinquish a claim


s: Urged before?  I ask bluntly this question, because


s: That all gentlemen honor.  Make only one sign


s: That you know of Lucile de Nevers aught, in fine,


s: For which, if your own virgin sister were by,


s: From Lucile you would shield her acquaintance, and I


s: Hesitated and paused.  He could tell, by the look


s: Of the man at his side, that he meant what he said,


s: And there flash'd in a moment these thoughts through his head:


s: "Leave Ems! would that suit me? no! that were again


s: To mar all.  And besides, if I do not explain,


s: She herself will... et puis, il a raison: on est


s: Gentilhomme avant tout!"  He replied therefore,


s: In those days, I was mad; and in some mad reply


s: I threatened the life of the rival to whom


s: That rejection was due, I was led to presume.


s: She fear'd for his life; and the letter which then


s: She wrote me, I show'd you; we met: and again


s: My hand was refused, and my love was denied,


s: And the glance you mistook was the vizard which Pride


s: He went on, "in this best world, 'tis all for the best;


s: You are wedded (bless'd Englishman!) wedded to one


s: Whose past can be called into question by none:


s: And I (fickle Frenchman!) can still laugh to feel


s: I am lord of myself; and the Mode: and Lucile


s: Still shines from her pedestal, frigid and fair


s: As yon German moon o'er the linden-tops there!


s: With the little love gods, whom I thank for us both,


s: While she smiles from her lonely Olympus apart,


s: That her arrows are marble as well as her heart.


s: Turn'd and enter'd the Rooms which, thus talking, meanwhile,


s: Heart and mind!) in the darkness bewilder'd, alone:


s: "And so," to himself did he mutter, "and so


s: 'Twas to rescue my life, gentle spirit! and, oh,


s: For this did I doubt her?... a light word--a look--


s: The mistake of a moment!... for this I forsook--


s: For this?  Pardon, pardon, Lucile! O Lucile!"


s: Thought and memory rang, like a funeral peal,


s: Weary changes on one dirge-like note through his brain,


s: The Casino, the Duke smiled.  He turned to roulette,


s: And sat down, and play'd fast, and lost largely, and yet


s: He still smiled: night deepen'd: he play'd his last number:


s: Went home: and soon slept: and still smil'd in his slumber.


s: In his desolate Maxims, La Rochefoucauld wrote,


s: "In the grief or mischance of a friend you may note,


s: There is something which always gives pleasure."


s: That reflection fell short of the truth as it was.


s: La Rochefoucauld might have as truly set down--


s: "No misfortune, but what some one turns to his own


s: Advantage its mischief: no sorrow, but of it


s: No affliction without its stock-jobbers, who all


s: Gamble, speculate, play on the rise and the fall


s: Of another man's heart, and make traffic in it."


s: All men's selfishness how should it fathom?


s: This contempt of existence, this listless disdain


s: Of your own life,--its joys and its duties,--the deuce


s: Take my wits if they find for it half an excuse!


s: I wish that some Frenchman would shoot off your leg,


s: And compel you to stump through the world on a peg.


s: I wish that you had, like myself (more's the pity!),


s: To sit seven hours on this cursed committee.


s: I wish that you knew, sir, how salt is the bread


s: Of another--(what is it that Dante has said?)


s: And the trouble of other men's stairs.  In a word,


s: I wish fate had some real affliction conferr'd


s: On your whimsical self, that, at least, you had cause


s: For neglecting life's duties, and damning its laws!


s: This pressure against all the purpose of life,


s: This self-ebullition, and ferment, and strife,


s: Betoken'd, I grant that it may be in truth,


s: The richness and strength of the new wine of youth.


s: But if, when the wine should have mellow'd with time,


s: Being bottled and binn'd, to a flavor sublime,


s: It retains the same acrid, incongruous taste,


s: Why, the sooner to throw it away that we haste


s: The better, I take it.  And this vice of snarling,


s: Self-love's little lapdog, the overfed darling


s: To my thinking, at least, in a man of your years,


s: At the midnoon of manhood with plenty to do,


s: With the duties of life just sufficiently pressing


s: For prayer, and of joys more than most men for blessing;


s: With a pretty young wife, and a pretty full purse,


s: Like poltroonery, puerile truly, or worse!


s: I wish I could get you at least to agree


s: To take life as it is, and consider with me,


s: If it be not all smiles, that it is not all sneers;


s: It admits honest laughter, and needs honest tears.


s: Do you think none have known but yourself all the pain


s: Of hopes that retreat, and regrets that remain?


s: And all the wide distance fate fixes, no doubt,


s: 'Twixt the life that's within, and the life that's without?


s: What one of us finds the world just as he likes?


s: Or gets what he wants when he wants it?  Or strikes


s: Without missing the thing that he strikes at the first?


s: Or walks without stumbling?  Or quenches his thirst


s: At one draught?  Bah! I tell you!  I, bachelor John,


s: Have had griefs of my own.  But what then?  I push on


s: All the faster perchance that I yet feel the pain


s: Of my last fall, albeit I may stumble again.


s: God means every man to be happy, be sure.


s: He sends us no sorrows that have not some cure.


s: Our duty down here is to do, not to know.


s: Live as though life were earnest, and life will be so.


s: Let each moment, like Time's last ambassador, come:


s: It will wait to deliver its message; and some


s: Sort of answer it merits.  It is not the deed


s: A man does, but the way that he does it, should plead


s: My next neighbor's a man with twelve thousand a year,


s: Who deems that life has not a pastime more pleasant


s: Than to follow a fox, or to slaughter a pheasant.


s: Yet this fellow goes through a contested election,


s: Lives in London, and sits, like the soul of dejection,


s: All the day through upon a committee, and late


s: To the last, every night, through the dreary debate,


s: As though he were getting each speaker by heart,


s: Though amongst them he never presumes to take part.


s: One asks himself why, without murmur or question,


s: He foregoes all his tastes, and destroys his digestion,


s: For a labor of which the result seems so small.


s: 'The man is ambitious,' you say.  Not at all.


s: He has just sense enough to be fully aware


s: That he never can hope to be Premier, or share


s: A subordinate office.  He is not so bold


s: As to fancy the House for ten minutes would bear


s: With patience his modest opinions to hear.


s: What could Government give him would be half so dear


s: To his heart as a walk with a dog and a gun


s: Through his own pheasant woods, or a capital run?


s: 'No; but vanity fills out the emptiest brain;


s: The man would be more than his neighbor, 'tis plain;


s: And the drudgery drearily gone through in town


s: Is more than repaid by provincial renown.


s: Enough if some Marchioness, lively and loose,


s: Shall have eyed him with passing complaisance; the goose,


s: If the Fashion to him open one of its doors,


s: As proud as a sultan returns to his boors.'


s: Is the head of a family known from one end


s: Of his shire to the other as the oldest; and therefore


s: He despises fine lords and fine ladies.  HE care for


s: A peerage? no truly!  Secondo; he rarely


s: Or never goes out: dines at Bellamy's sparely,


s: What inspires, and consoles, such a self-imposed task


s: As the life of this man,--but the sense of its duty?


s: And I swear that the eyes of the haughtiest beauty


s: Have never inspired in my soul that intense,


s: Reverential, and loving, and absolute sense


s: Of heart-felt admiration I feel for this man,


s: As I see him beside me;--there, wearing the wan


s: London daylight away, on his humdrum committee;


s: So unconscious of all that awakens my pity,


s: There seems something nobler than genius to be


s: In that dull patient labor no genius relieves,


s: That absence of all joy which yet never grieves;


s: The humility of it! the grandeur withal!


s: The sublimity of it!  And yet, should you call


s: The man's own very slow apprehension to this,


s: He would ask, with a stare, what sublimity is!


s: His work is the duty to which he was born;


s: He accepts it, without ostentation or scorn:


s: And this man is no uncommon type (I thank Heaven!)


s: Of this land's common men.  In all other lands, even


s: The type's self is wanting.  Perchance, 'tis the reason


s: That Government oscillates ever 'twixt treason


s: Too far, though, from what I was wishing to say.


s: You, for instance, read Plato.  You know that the soul


s: Is immortal; and put this in rhyme, on the whole,


s: Very well, with sublime illustration.  Man's heart


s: Is a mystery, doubtless.  You trace it in art:--


s: The Greek Psyche,--that's beauty,--the perfect ideal.


s: But then comes the imperfect, perfectible real,


s: With its pain'd aspiration and strife.  In those pale


s: Ill-drawn virgins of Giotto you see it prevail.


s: You have studied all this.  Then, the universe, too,


s: Is not a mere house to be lived in, for you.


s: Something also of strata and fossils; these show


s: The bases of cosmical structure: some mention


s: Of the nebulous theory demands your attention;


s: Of your brain, my dear Alfred, is vastly superior


s: In fibre, and fulness, and function, and fire,


s: To that of my poor parliamentary squire;


s: But your life leaves upon me (forgive me this heat


s: Due to friendship) the sense of a thing incomplete.


s: You fly high.  But what is it, in truth, you fly at?


s: My mind is not satisfied quite as to that.


s: We are children.  Mere kites are the fancies we fly,


s: Though we marvel to see them ascending so high;


s: Things slight in themselves,--long-tail'd toys, and no more:


s: What is it that makes the kite steadily soar


s: Through the realms where the cloud and the whirlwind have birth


s: But the tie that attaches the kite to the earth?


s: I remember the lessons of childhood, you see,


s: And the hornbook I learn'd on my poor mother's knee.


s: In truth, I suspect little else do we learn


s: From this great book of life, which so shrewdly we turn,


s: Saving how to apply, with a good or bad grace,


s: What we learn'd in the hornbook of childhood.


s: Out of sight: let it go where it will, on the breeze;


s: But cut not the one thread by which it is bound,


s: Be it never so high, to this poor human ground.


s: No man is the absolute lord of his life.


s: You, my friend, have a home, and a sweet and dear wife.


s: If I often have sigh'd by my own silent fire,


s: With the sense of a sometimes recurring desire


s: For a voice sweet and low, or a face fond and fair,


s: Some dull winter evening to solace and share


s: With the love which the world its good children allows


s: To shake hands with,--in short, a legitimate spouse,


s: This thought has consoled me: 'At least I have given


s: For my own good behavior no hostage to heaven.'


s: You have, though.  Forget it not! faith, if you do,


s: I would rather break stones on a road than be you.


s: That little girl wrong, I would sit on his head,


s: Even though you yourself were the sinner!


s: Leads me back (do not take it, dear cousin, amiss!)


s: To the matter I meant to have mention'd at once,


s: But these thoughts put it out of my head for the nonce.


s: Of all the preposterous humbugs and shams,


s: Of all the old wolves ever taken for lambs,


s: The wolf best received by the flock he devours


s: Is that uncle-in-law, my dear Alfred, of yours.


s: At least, this has long been my unsettled conviction,


s: And I almost would venture at once the prediction


s: That before very long--but no matter!  I trust,


s: For his sake and our own, that I may be unjust.


s: But Heaven forgive me, if cautious I am on


s: The score of such men as with both God and Mammon


s: There were rumors afloat in the City this morning


s: Which I scarce like the sound of.  Who knows? would he fleece


s: At a pinch, the old hypocrite, even his own niece?


s: For the sake of Matilda I cannot importune


s: Your attention too early.  If all your wife's fortune


s: Is yet in the hands of that specious old sinner,


s: Who would dice with the devil, and yet rise up winner,


s: I say, lose no time! get it out of the grab


s: Of her trustee and uncle, Sir Ridley McNab.


s: I trust those deposits, at least, are drawn out,


s: And safe at this moment from danger or doubt.


s: Verbum sap.  I admit nothing yet justifies


s: My mistrust; but I have in my own mind a notion


s: That old Ridley's white waistcoat, and airs of devotion,


s: Have long been the only ostensible capital


s: On which he does business.  If so, time must sap it all,


s: Sooner or later.  Look sharp.  Do not wait,


s: Draw at once.  In a fortnight it may be too late.


s: I admit I know nothing.  I can but suspect;


s: I give you my notions.  Form yours and reflect.


s: My love to Matilda.  Her mother looks well.


s: I saw her last week.  I have nothing to tell


s: Worth your hearing.  We think that the Government here


s: Will not last our next session.  Fitz Funk is a peer,


s: You will see by the Times.  There are symptoms which show


s: That the ministers now are preparing to go,


s: And finish their feast of the loaves and the fishes.


s: It is evident that they are clearing the dishes,


s: And cramming their pockets with bonbons.  Your news


s: Will be always acceptable.  Vere, of the Blues,


s: You have met with that hot-headed Frenchman?  I know


s: That the man is a sad mauvais sujet.  Take care


s: Of Matilda.  I wish I could join you both there;


s: But before I am free, you are sure to be gone.


s: Good-by, my dear fellow.  Yours, anxiously,


s: This is just the advice I myself would have given


s: To Lord Alfred, had I been his cousin, which, Heaven


s: Be praised, I am not.  But it reach'd him indeed


s: In an unlucky hour, and received little heed.


s: A half-languid glance was the most that he lent at


s: That time to these homilies.  Primum dementat


s: Was behaving just then in a way to distract


s: Job's self had Job known him.  The more you'd have thought


s: The Duke's court to Matilda his eye would have caught,


s: The more did his aspect grow listless to hers,


s: And the more did it beam to Lucile de Nevers.


s: And Matilda, the less she found love in the look


s: Of her husband, the less did she shrink from the Duke.


s: With each day that pass'd o'er them, they each, heart from heart,


s: More and more of his time Alfred pass'd at the table;


s: Played high; and lost more than to lose he was able.


s: He grew feverish, querulous, absent, perverse,--


s: And here I must mention, what made matters worse,


s: That Lucile and the Duke at the selfsame hotel


s: With the Vargraves resided.  It needs not to tell


s: That they all saw too much of each other.  The weather


s: Was so fine that it brought them each day all together


s: In the garden, to listen, of course, to the band.


s: The house was a sort of phalanstery; and


s: Lucile and Matilda were pleased to discover


s: The Duke was an excellent tenor; could sing


s: "Ange si pure" in a way to bring down on the wing


s: All the angels St. Cicely play'd to.  My lord


s: Would also, at times, when he was not too bored,


s: Play Beethoven, and Wagner's new music, not ill;


s: With some little things of his own, showing skill.


s: For which reason, as well as for some others too,


s: Their rooms were a pleasant enough rendezvous.


s: Did Lucile, then, encourage (the heartless coquette!)


s: All the mischief she could not but mark?


s: In that garden, an arbor, withdrawn from the sun,


s: By laburnum and lilac with blooms overrun,


s: Form'd a vault of cool verdure, which made, when the heat


s: Of the noontide hung heavy, a gracious retreat.


s: And here, with some friends of their own little world,


s: In the warm afternoons, till the shadows uncurl'd


s: From the feet of the lindens, and crept through the grass,


s: Their blue hours would this gay little colony pass.


s: The men loved to smoke, and the women to bring,


s: Undeterr'd by tobacco, their work there, and sing


s: Or converse, till the dew fell, and homeward the bee


s: Floated, heavy with honey.  Towards eve there was tea


s: Fruit and coffee.  [Greek text omitted]!


s: Such an evening it was, while Matilda presided


s: O'er the rustic arrangements thus daily provided,


s: With the Duke, and a small German Prince with a thick head,


s: And an old Russian Countess both witty and wicked,


s: And two Austrian Colonels,--that Alfred, who yet


s: Was lounging alone with his last cigarette,


s: Saw Lucile de Nevers by herself pacing slow


s: 'Neath the shade of the cool linden-trees to and fro,


s: And joining her, cried, "Thank the good stars, we meet!


s: Serene voice, she replied to him.... "Yes? and I too


s: Was wishing, indeed, to say somewhat to you."


s: She was paler just then than her wont was.  The sound


s: Of her voice had within it a sadness profound.


s: "If your thoughts have of late sought, or cared, to divine


s: The purpose of what has been passing in mine,


s: Look into your own heart and home.  Can you see


s: No reason for this, save unkindness in me?


s: Look into the eyes of your wife--those true eyes,


s: Too pure and too honest in aught to disguise


s: Be the word, if you will!) let me speak of the past.


s: I know now, alas! though I know it too late,


s: What pass'd at that meeting which settled my fate.


s: Nay, nay, interrupt me not yet! let it be!


s: I but say what is due to yourself--due to me,


s: Describing how, lately, the truth he had known,


s: To explain how, and whence, he had wrong'd her before,


s: All the complicate coil wound about him of yore,


s: All the hopes that had flown with the faith that was fled,


s: "And then, O Lucile, what was left me," he said,


s: "When my life was defrauded of you, but to take


s: That life, as 'twas left, and endeavor to make


s: Unobserved by another, the void which remain'd


s: Unconceal'd to myself?  If I have not attain'd,


s: I have striven.  One word of unkindness has never


s: Pass'd my lips to Matilda.  Her least wish has ever


s: Received my submission.  And if, of a truth,


s: I have fail'd to renew what I felt in my youth,


s: I at least have been loyal to what I DO feel,


s: Respect, duty, honor, affection.  Lucile,


s: I speak not of love now, nor love's long regret:


s: I would not offend you, nor dare I forget


s: The ties that are round me.  But may there not be


s: A friendship yet hallow'd between you and me?


s: May we not be yet friends--friends the dearest?"


s: She replied, "for one moment, perchance, did it pass


s: Through my own heart, that dream which forever hath brought


s: To those who indulge it in innocent thought


s: For in lives such as ours are, the Dream-tree would grow


s: On the borders of Hades: beyond it, what lies?


s: Of the lost and tormented.  Departed, for us,


s: Are the days when with innocence we could discuss


s: Dreams like these.  Fled, indeed, are the dreams of my life!


s: Oh trust me, the best friend you have is your wife.


s: And I--in that pure child's pure virtue, I bow


s: To the beauty of virtue.  I felt on my brow


s: Not one blush when I first took her hand.  With no blush


s: Shall I clasp it to-night, when I leave you.


s: I would say what I wish'd to have said when you came.


s: Do not think that years leave us and find us the same!


s: Is no more.  You yourself have within you, I know,


s: The germ of a joy in the years yet to be,


s: Whereby the past years will bear fruit.  As for me,


s: Let me thank you for that which ennobled regret


s: When it came, as it beautified hope ere it fled,--


s: The love I once felt for you.  True, it is dead,


s: But it is not corrupted.  I too have at last


s: Lived to learn that love is not--such love as is past,


s: Such love as youth dreams of at least--the sole part


s: Of life, which is able to fill up the heart;


s: Heaven fixes a gulf, over which you must see


s: That our guardian angels can bear us no more.


s: We each of us stand on an opposite shore.


s: Trust a woman's opinion for once.  Women learn,


s: By an instinct men never attain, to discern


s: Each other's true natures.  Matilda is fair,


s: Matilda is young--see her now, sitting there!--


s: How tenderly fashion'd--(oh, is she not? say,)


s: Of all that you tell me pray deem me aware;


s: But Matilda's a statue, Matilda's a child;


s: As she answer'd him--"Yesterday, all that you say


s: Might be true; it is false, wholly false, though, today."


s: "The statue with life has become vivified:


s: I mean that the child to a woman has grown:


s: Of ironical wonder, he answer'd--what, she!


s: "My lord, you deceive yourself; no one but you


s: Is she jealous of.  Trust me.  And thank Heaven, too,


s: That so lately this passion within her hath grown.


s: For who shall declare, if for months she had known


s: What for days she has known all too keenly, I fear,


s: That knowledge perchance might have cost you more dear?"


s: "Explain! explain, madam!" he cried, in surprise;


s: And terror and anger enkindled his eyes.


s: "How blind are you men!" she replied.  "Can you doubt


s: That a woman, young, fair, and neglected--"


s: He gasp'd with emotion.  "Lucile! you mean--what!


s: Listen to me, my friend.  What I wish to explain


s: Is so hard to shape forth.  I could almost refrain


s: From touching a subject so fragile.  However,


s: Bear with me awhile, if I frankly endeavor


s: To invade for one moment your innermost life.


s: Your honor, Lord Alfred, and that of your wife,


s: Are dear to me,--most dear!  And I am convinced


s: That you rashly are risking that honor."


s: And she saw, by his sudden and terrified start,


s: "What in truth do you mean by these words, vaguely framed


s: To alarm me?  Matilda?--my wife?--do you know?"--


s: "I know that your wife is as spotless as snow.


s: But I know not how far your continued neglect


s: Her nature, as well as her heart, might affect.


s: Till at last, by degrees, that serene atmosphere


s: Of her unconscious purity, faint and yet dear,


s: Like the indistinct golden and vaporous fleece


s: Which surrounded and hid the celestials in Greece


s: From the glances of men, would disperse and depart


s: At the sighs of a sick and delirious heart,--


s: A disease heal'd too oft by a criminal cure;


s: And the heart left too long to its ravage in time


s: May find weakness in virtue, reprisal in crime."


s: "Such thoughts could have never," he falter'd, "I know,


s: But reflect! when such thoughts do not come of themselves


s: To the heart of a woman neglected, like elves


s: That seek lonely places,--there rarely is wanting


s: Some voice at her side, with an evil enchanting


s: At this moment, around me I search everywhere


s: Half fearing, indeed, the effect they had made.


s: "I was putting a mere hypothetical case."


s: With a long look of trouble he gazed in her face.


s: "Woe to him,..." he exclaim'd... "woe to him that shall feel


s: Such a hope! for I swear, if he did but reveal


s: One glimpse,--it should be the last hope of his life!"


s: The clench'd hand and bent eyebrow betoken'd the strife


s: "That you menace yourself.  You yourself are the man


s: That is guilty.  Alas! must it ever be so?


s: Do we stand in our own light, wherever we go,


s: And fight our own shadows forever?  O think!


s: The trial from which you, the stronger ones, shrink,


s: You ask woman, the weaker one, still to endure;


s: You bid her be true to the laws you abjure;


s: To abide by the ties you yourselves rend asunder,


s: With the force that has fail'd you; and that too, when under


s: The assumption of rights which to her you refuse,


s: The immunity claim'd for yourselves you abuse!


s: Where the contract exists, it involves obligation


s: To both husband and wife, in an equal relation.


s: You unloose, in asserting your own liberty,


s: A knot, which, unloosed, leaves another as free.


s: Then, O Alfred! be juster at heart: and thank Heaven


s: That Heaven to your wife such a nature has given


s: That you have not wherewith to reproach her, albeit


s: You have cause to reproach your own self, could you see it!"


s: In the silence that follow'd the last word she said,


s: In the heave of his chest, and the droop of his head,


s: Poor Lucile mark'd her words had sufficed to impart


s: A new germ of motion and life to that heart


s: Of which he himself had so recently spoken


s: As dead to emotion--exhausted, or broken!


s: New fears would awaken new hopes in his life.


s: In the husband indifferent no more to the wife


s: She already, as she had foreseen, could discover


s: That Matilda had gain'd at her hands, a new lover.


s: So after some moments of silence, whose spell


s: They both felt, she extended her hand to him....


s: "Lucile," he replied, as that soft quiet hand


s: In his own he clasp'd warmly, "I both understand


s: One word, I beseech you! I cannot forget,"


s: He exclaim'd, "we are parting for life.  You have shown


s: My pathway to me: but say, what is your own?"


s: The calmness with which until then she had spoken


s: In a moment seem'd strangely and suddenly broken.


s: She turn'd from him nervously, hurriedly.


s: I know not," she murmur'd, "I follow the way


s: Heaven leads me; I cannot foresee to what end.


s: I know only that far, far away it must tend


s: From all places in which we have met, or might meet.


s: As the incense that rises from some sacred cup


s: And mixes with music, stole forth, and breathed up


s: May all gentlest angels attend you!" sighed he,