s: In her language! her movements! what play in her face!


s: And yet what a sadness she seems to conceal!


s: But not like a lover.  What interests me so


s: In Lucile, at the same time forbids me, I know,


s: To give to that interest, whate'er the sensation,


s: The name we men give to an hour's admiration,


s: A night's passing passion, an actress's eyes,


s: A dancing girl's ankles, a fine lady's sighs.


s: Yes, I quite comprehend.  But this sadness--this shade


s: Which you speak of?... it almost would make me afraid


s: Your gay countrymen, Sir, less adroit must have grown,


s: Since when, as a stripling, at Paris, I own


s: I found in them terrible rivals,--if yet


s: They have all lack'd the skill to console this regret


s: (If regret be the word I should use), or fulfil


s: This desire (if desire be the word), which seems still


s: To endure unappeased.  For I take it for granted,


s: From all that you say, that the will was not wanted.


s: The stranger replied, not without irritation:


s: "I have heard that an Englishman--one of your nation


s: I presume--and if so, I must beg you, indeed,


s: With your tale.  My compatriot, what was his crime?


s: Oh, nothing!  His folly was not so sublime


s: As to merit that term.  If I blamed him just now,


s: It was not for the sin, but the silliness.


s: Although I myself have no passion for it,


s: And do not understand, yet I cannot despise


s: The cold man of science, who walks with his eyes


s: All alert through a garden of flowers, and strips


s: The lilies' gold tongues, and the roses' red lips,


s: With a ruthless dissection; since he, I suppose,


s: Has some purpose beyond the mere mischief he does.


s: But the stupid and mischievous boy, that uproots


s: The exotics, and tramples the tender young shoots,


s: For a boy's brutal pastime, and only because


s: He knows no distinction 'twixt heartsease and haws,--


s: One would wish, for the sake of each nursling so nipp'd,


s: To catch the young rascal and have him well whipp'd!


s: Some compatriot of mine, do I then understand,


s: With a cold Northern heart, and a rude English hand,


s: But little, or nothing.  Yet some faces show


s: The last act of a tragedy in their regard:


s: Though the first scenes be wanting, it yet is not hard


s: To divine, more or less, what the plot may have been,


s: And what sort of actors have pass'd o'er the scene.


s: And whenever I gaze on the face of Lucile,


s: With its pensive and passionless languor, I feel


s: That some feeling hath burnt there... burnt out, and burnt up


s: Health and hope.  So you feel when you gaze down the cup


s: Of extinguish'd volcanoes: you judge of the fire


s: Once there, by the ravage you see;--the desire,


s: By the apathy left in its wake, and that sense


s: Humph!... I see you have finished, at last, your cigar;


s: On their converse.  Still musingly on, side by side,


s: In the moonlight, the two men continued to ride


s: Down the dim mountain pathway.  But each for the rest


s: Of their journey, although they still rode on abreast,


s: Continued to follow in silence the train


s: Of the different feelings that haunted his brain;


s: And each, as though roused from a deep revery,


s: Almost shouted, descending the mountain, to see


s: Burst at once on the moonlight the silvery Baths,


s: The long lime-tree alley, the dark gleaming paths,


s: With the lamps twinkling through them--the quaint wooden roofs--


s: And the music of wandering bands, up the walls


s: Of the steep hanging hill, at remote intervals


s: Reached them, cross'd by the sound of the clacking of whips,


s: And here and there, faintly, through serpentine slips


s: Of verdant rose-gardens deep-sheltered with screens


s: They could mark the white dresses and catch the light songs


s: Of the lovely Parisians that wander'd in throngs,


s: Led by Laughter and Love through the old eventide


s: Down the dream-haunted valley, or up the hillside.


s: At length, at the door of the inn l'HERISSON,


s: Pray go there, if ever you go to Luchon!


s: The two horsemen, well pleased to have reached it, alighted


s: Lord Alfred to dinner.  Lord Alfred declined.


s: He had letters to write, and felt tired.  So he dined


s: He watched his companion depart; nor knew why,


s: Beyond all accountable reason or measure,


s: He felt in his breast such a sovran displeasure.


s: "The fellow's good looking," he murmur'd at last,


s: "And yet not a coxcomb."  Some ghost of the past


s: "If he love her," he thought, "let him win her."


s: Then he turn'd to the future--and order'd his dinner.


s: O hour of all hours, the most bless'd upon earth,


s: The face of his first love; the bills that he owes;


s: The twaddle of friends and the venom of foes;


s: The sermon he heard when to church he last went;


s: The money he borrow'd, the money he spent;--


s: All of these things, a man, I believe, may forget,


s: And not be the worse for forgetting; but yet


s: Never, never, oh never! earth's luckiest sinner


s: Hath unpunish'd forgotten the hour of his dinner!


s: Indigestion, that conscience of every bad stomach,


s: Shall relentlessly gnaw and pursue him with some ache


s: Or some pain; and trouble, remorseless, his best ease,


s: As the Furies once troubled the sleep of Orestes.


s: We may live without poetry, music, and art:


s: We may live without conscience, and live without heart;


s: We may live without friends; we may live without books;


s: But civilized man cannot live without cooks.


s: He may live without books,--what is knowledge but grieving?


s: He may live without hope,--what is hope but deceiving?


s: He may live without love,--what is passion but pining?


s: But where is the man that can live without dining?


s: Lord Alfred found, waiting his coming, a note


s: "Your last letter has reach'd me," she wrote.


s: "This evening, alas! I must go to the ball,


s: And shall not be at home till too late for your call;


s: But to-morrow, at any rate, sans faute, at One


s: You will find me at home, and will find me alone.


s: Meanwhile, let me thank you sincerely, milord,


s: For the honor with which you adhere to your word.


s: Yes, I thank you, Lord Alfred!  To-morrow then.


s: The feelings with which Alfred Vargrave flung down


s: This note, as he pour'd out his wine.  I must own


s: That I think he, himself, could have hardly explain'd


s: The glass down, he mutter'd, "Jack's right, after all.


s: You may keep me a ticket, in case I should go."


s: Oh, better, no doubt, is a dinner of herbs,


s: When season'd by love, which no rancor disturbs,


s: And sweeten'd by all that is sweetest in life,


s: Than turbot, bisque, ortolans, eaten in strife!


s: But if, out of humor, and hungry, alone,


s: A man should sit down to a dinner, each one


s: Of the dishes of which the cook chooses to spoil


s: With a horrible mixture of garlic and oil,


s: The chances are ten against one, I must own,


s: He gets up as ill-temper'd as when he sat down.


s: And if any reader this fact to dispute is


s: Undisturb'd the wasp settled.  The evening was fine.


s: Lord Alfred his chair by the window had set,


s: And languidly lighted his small cigarette.


s: The window was open.  The warm air without


s: Waved the flame of the candles.  The moths were about.


s: Floated up like faint echoes of joys long ago,


s: And night deepen'd apace; through the dark avenues


s: The lamps twinkled bright; and by threes and by twos,


s: The idlers of Luchon were strolling at will,


s: As Lord Alfred could see from the cool window-sill,


s: Where his gaze, as he languidly turn'd it, fell o'er


s: His late travelling companion, now passing before


s: The inn, at the window of which he still sat,


s: In full toilet,--boots varnish'd, and snowy cravat,


s: Gayly smoothing and buttoning a yellow kid glove,


s: From his window, the stranger, who stopp'd as he walk'd


s: To mix with those groups, and now nodded, now talk'd,


s: To the young Paris dandies, Lord Alfred discern'd,


s: By the way hats were lifted, and glances were turn'd,


s: That this unknown acquaintance, now bound for the hall,


s: Was a person of rank or of fashion; for all


s: Whom he bow'd to in passing, or stopped with and chatter'd,


s: Walk'd on with a look which implied... "I feel flatter'd!"


s: His form was soon lost in the distance and gloom.


s: Lord Alfred still sat by himself in his room.


s: He had finish'd, one after the other, a dozen


s: Or more cigarettes.  He had thought of his cousin;


s: He had thought of Matilda, and thought of Lucile:


s: He had thought about many things; thought a great deal


s: Of himself, of his past life, his future, his present:


s: He had thought of the moon, neither full moon nor crescent;


s: Of the gay world, so sad! life, so sweet and so sour!


s: He had thought, too, of glory, and fortune, and power:


s: Thought of love, and the country, and sympathy, and


s: Thought of man in the abstract, and woman, no doubt,


s: In particular; also he had thought much about


s: His digestion, his debts, and his dinner: and last,


s: He thought that the night would be stupidly pass'd


s: If he thought any more of such matters at all:


s: So he rose and resolved to set out for the ball.


s: That Lord Alfred had spoil'd, and flung by in a pet,


s: Half a dozen white neckcloths, and look'd for the nonce


s: Twenty times in the glass, if he look'd in it once.


s: I believe that he split up, in drawing them on,


s: Three pair of pale lavender gloves, one by one.


s: And this is the reason, no doubt, that at last,


s: When he reach'd the Casino, although he walk'd fast,


s: He heard, as he hurriedly enter'd the door,


s: The chaperons and dancers were all in a flutter.


s: A crowd block'd the door: and a buzz and a mutter


s: Went about in the room as a young man, whose face


s: Lord Alfred had seen ere he enter'd that place,


s: But a few hours ago, through the perfumed and warm


s: Flowery porch, with a lady that lean'd on his arm


s: Like a queen in a fable of old fairy days,


s: Reach'd Lord Alfred as just then he enter'd.


s: Said a Frenchman beside him,... "That lucky Luvois


s: Has obtained all the gifts of the gods... rank and wealth,


s: And good looks, and then such inexhaustible health!


s: He that hath shall have more; and this truth, I surmise,


s: Is the cause why, to-night, by the beautiful eyes


s: Of la charmante Lucile more distinguish'd than all,


s: He so gayly goes off with the belle of the ball."


s: "Is it true," asked a lady aggressively fat,


s: By another that look'd like a needle, all steel


s: And tenuity--"Luvois will marry Lucile?"


s: The needle seem'd jerk'd by a virulent twitch,


s: As though it were bent upon driving a stitch


s: Interposing, a young man who sat by their side,


s: And was languidly fanning his face with his hat,


s: If Luvois has proposed, the Comtesse has refused."


s: The fat and thin ladies were highly amused.


s: "Refused!... what! a young Duke, not thirty, my dear,


s: With at least half a million (what is it?) a year!"


s: "That may be," said a third; "yet I know some time since


s: Castelmar was refused, though as rich, and a Prince.


s: But Luvois, who was never before in his life


s: In love with a woman who was not a wife,


s: Said Lord Alfred, "This ball is a bore!"


s: And return'd to the inn, somewhat worse than before.


s: There, whilst musing he lean'd the dark valley above,


s: Through the warm land were wand'ring the spirits of love.


s: A soft breeze in the white window drapery stirr'd;


s: In the blossom'd acacia the lone cricket chirr'd;


s: The scent of the roses fell faint o'er the night,


s: And the moon on the mountain was dreaming in light.


s: Repose, and yet rapture! that pensive wild nature


s: Impregnate with passion in each breathing feature!


s: A stone's throw from thence, through the large lime-trees peep'd


s: In a garden of roses, a white chalet, steep'd


s: In the moonbeams.  The windows oped down to the lawn;


s: The casements were open; the curtains were drawn;


s: Lights stream'd from the inside; and with them the sound


s: Of music and song.  In the garden, around


s: A table with fruits, wine, tea, ices, there set,


s: Half a dozen young men and young women were met.


s: Light, laughter, and voices, and music all stream'd


s: Through the quiet-leaved limes.  At the window there seem'd


s: For one moment the outline, familiar and fair,


s: Of a white dress, white neck, and soft dusky hair,


s: Which Lord Alfred remember'd... a moment or so


s: It hover'd, then pass'd into shadow; and slow


s: The soft notes, from a tender piano upflung,


s: Floated forth, and a voice unforgotten thus sung:--


s: "Hear a song that was born in the land of my birth!


s: The anchors are lifted, the fair ship is free,


s: And the shout of the mariners floats in its mirth


s: 'Twixt the light in the sky and the light on the sea.


s: "And this ship is a world.  She is freighted with souls,


s: She is freighted with merchandise: proudly she sails


s: With the Labor that stores, and the Will that controls


s: The gold in the ingots, the silk in the bales.


s: "From the gardens of Pleasure where reddens the rose,


s: And the scent of the cedar is faint on the air,


s: Past the harbors of Traffic, sublimely she goes,


s: Man's hopes o'er the world of the waters to bear!


s: "Where the cheer from the harbors of Traffic is heard,


s: Where the gardens of Pleasure fade fast on the sight,


s: O'er the rose, o'er the cedar, there passes a bird;


s: 'Tis the Paradise Bird, never known to alight.


s: "And that bird, bright and bold as a poet's desire,


s: Roams her own native heavens, the realms of her birth.


s: There she soars like a seraph, she shines like a fire,


s: And her plumage hath never been sullied by earth.


s: "And the mariners greet her; there's song on each lip,


s: For that bird of good omen, and joy in each eye.


s: And the ship and the bird, and the bird and the ship,


s: "Fast, fast fades the land! far the rose-gardens flee,


s: And far fleet the harbors.  In regions unknown


s: And the bird in a desert of sky is alone.


s: "In those regions unknown, o'er that desert of air,


s: Down that desert of waters--tremendous in wrath--


s: The storm-wind Euroclydon leaps from his lair,


s: And cleaves, thro' the waves of the ocean, his path.


s: "And the bird in the cloud, and the ship on the wave,


s: Overtaken, are beaten about by wild gales;


s: And the mariners all rush their cargo to save,


s: Of the gold in the ingots, the silk in the bales.


s: "Lo! a wonder, which never before hath been heard,


s: For it never before hath been given to sight;


s: On the ship bath descended the Paradise Bird,


s: The Paradise Bird, never known to alight!


s: "The bird which the mariners bless'd, when each lip


s: Had a song for the omen that gladden'd each eye;


s: The bright bird for shelter hath flown to the ship


s: From the wrath on the sea and the wrath in the sky.


s: "But the mariners heed not the bird any more.


s: They are felling the masts--they are cutting the sails;


s: Some are working, some weeping, and some wrangling o'er


s: Their gold in the ingots, their silk in the bales.


s: "Souls of men are on board; wealth of man in the hold;


s: And the storm-wind Euroclydon sweeps to his prey;


s: And who heeds the bird?  'Save the silk and the gold!'


s: And the bird from her shelter the gust sweeps away!


s: "Poor Paradise Bird! on her lone flight once more


s: Back again in the wake of the wind she is driven--


s: To be 'whelmed in the storm, or above it to soar,


s: And, if rescued from ocean, to vanish in heaven!


s: "And the ship rides the waters and weathers the gales:


s: From the haven she nears the rejoicing is heard.


s: All hands are at work on the ingots, the bales,


s: Save a child sitting lonely, who misses--the bird!"


s: With stout iron shoes be my Pegasus shod!


s: For my road is a rough one: flint, stubble, and clod,


s: Blue clay, and black quagmire, brambles no few,


s: In that tale of a youth who, one night at a revel,


s: Amidst music and mirth lured and wiled by some devil,


s: Follow'd ever one mask through the mad masquerade,


s: Till, pursued to some chamber deserted ('tis said),


s: He unmasked, with a kiss, the strange lady, and stood


s: Face to face with a Thing not of flesh nor of blood.


s: In this Mask of the Passions, call'd Life, there's no human


s: Emotion, though mask'd, or in man or in woman,


s: But, when faced and unmask'd, it will leave us at last


s: Struck by some supernatural aspect aghast.


s: For truth is appalling and eldrich, as seen


s: By this world's artificial lamplights and we screen


s: From our sight the strange vision that troubles our life.


s: With the world, which, despite the world's self, it ennobles?


s: Why is it that Genius perplexes and troubles


s: And offends the effete life it comes to renew?


s: 'Tis the terror of truth! 'tis that Genius is true!


s: Was a woman of genius: whose genius, indeed,


s: With her life was at war.  Once, but once, in that life


s: The chance had been hers to escape from this strife


s: In herself; finding peace in the life of another


s: From the passionate wants she, in hers, failed to smother.


s: But the chance fell too soon, when the crude restless power


s: Which had been to her nature so fatal a dower,


s: Only wearied the man it yet haunted and thrall'd;


s: And that moment, once lost, had been never recall'd.


s: Yet it left her heart sore: and, to shelter her heart


s: From approach, she then sought, in that delicate art


s: Of concealment, those thousand adroit strategies


s: Of feminine wit, which repel while they please,


s: A weapon, at once, and a shield to conceal


s: And defend all that women can earnestly feel.


s: Thus, striving her instincts to hide and repress,


s: She felt frighten'd at times by her very success:


s: She pined for the hill-tops, the clouds, and the stars:


s: Golden wires may annoy us as much as steel bars


s: If they keep us behind prison windows: impassion'd


s: Her heart rose and burst the light cage she had fashion'd


s: To herself, all her instincts, without hesitation,


s: The strong spirit in her, had her life been but blended


s: With some man's whose heart had her own comprehended,


s: All its wealth at his feet would have lavishly thrown.


s: For him she had struggled and striven alone;


s: For him had aspired; in him had transfused


s: All the gladness and grace of her nature; and used


s: For him only the spells of its delicate power:


s: Like the ministering fairy that brings from her bower


s: To some maze all the treasures, whose use the fond elf,


s: More enrich'd by her love, disregards for herself.


s: But standing apart, as she ever had done,


s: And her genius, which needed a vent, finding none


s: In the broad fields of action thrown wide to man's power,


s: She unconsciously made it her bulwark and tower,


s: And built in it her refuge, whence lightly she hurl'd


s: Her contempt at the fashions and forms of the world.


s: And the permanent cause why she now miss'd and fail'd


s: That firm hold upon life she so keenly assail'd,


s: Was, in all those diurnal occasions that place


s: Say--the world and the woman opposed face to face,


s: Where the woman must yield, she, refusing to stir,


s: Offended the world, which in turn wounded her.


s: As before, in the old-fashion'd manner, I fit


s: To this character, also, its moral: to wit,


s: Say--the world is a nettle; disturb it, it stings:


s: Grasp it firmly, it stings not.  On one of two things,


s: If you would not be stung, it behoves you to settle


s: Avoid it, or crush it.  She crush'd not the nettle;


s: For she could not; nor would she avoid it: she tried


s: With the weak hand of woman to thrust it aside,


s: And it stung her.  A woman is too slight a thing


s: To trample the world without feeling its sting.


s: One lodges but simply at Luchon; yet, thanks


s: To the season that changes forever the banks


s: Of the blossoming mountains, and shifts the light cloud


s: O'er the valley, and hushes or rouses the loud


s: Wind that wails in the pines, or creeps murmuring down


s: The dark evergreen slopes to the slumbering town,


s: And the torrent that falls, faintly heard from afar,


s: And the blue-bells that purple the dapple-gray scaur,


s: One sees with each month of the many-faced year


s: A thousand sweet changes of beauty appear.


s: The chalet where dwelt the Comtesse de Nevers


s: Rested half up the base of a mountain of firs,


s: In a garden of roses, reveal'd to the road,


s: Yet withdrawn from its noise: 'twas a peaceful abode.


s: And the walls, and the roofs, with their gables like hoods


s: Which the monks wear, were built of sweet resinous woods.


s: The sunlight of noon, as Lord Alfred ascended


s: The steep garden paths, every odor had blended


s: Of the ardent carnations, and faint heliotropes,


s: With the balms floated down from the dark wooded slopes:


s: A light breeze at the window was playing about,


s: And the white curtains floated, now in, and now out.


s: The house was all hush'd when he rang at the door,


s: Which was open'd to him in a moment, or more,


s: By an old nodding negress, whose sable head shined


s: In the sun like a cocoa-nut polished in Ind,


s: 'Neath the snowy foulard which about it was wound.


s: Lord Alfred sprang forward at once, with a bound.


s: He remembered the nurse of Lucile.  The old dame,


s: Whose teeth and whose eyes used to beam when he came,


s: With a boy's eager step, in the blithe days of yore,


s: To pass, unannounced, her young mistress's door.


s: The old woman had fondled Lucile on her knee


s: When she left, as an infant, far over the sea,


s: In India, the tomb of a mother, unknown,


s: To pine, a pale flow'ret, in great Paris town.


s: She had sooth'd the child's sobs on her breast, when she read


s: The letter that told her, her father was dead.


s: An astute, shrewd adventurer, who, like Ulysses,


s: Had studied men, cities, laws, wars, the abysses


s: Of statecraft, with varying fortunes, was he.


s: He had wander'd the world through, by land and by sea,


s: And knew it in most of its phases.  Strong will,


s: Subtle tact, and soft manners, had given him skill


s: To conciliate Fortune, and courage to brave


s: Her displeasure.  Thrice shipwreck'd, and cast by the wave


s: On his own quick resources, they rarely had fail'd


s: His command: often baffled, he ever prevail'd,


s: In his combat with fate: to-day flatter'd and fed


s: By monarchs, to-morrow in search of mere bread


s: The offspring of times trouble-haunted, he came


s: He lost sight of his fortune, at twenty, in France,


s: And, half statesman, half soldier, and wholly Freelance,


s: Had wander'd in search of it, over the world


s: His wandering tent at Mysore, in the smile


s: Of a Rajah (whose court he controll'd for a while,


s: And whose council he prompted and govern'd by stealth);


s: Scarce, indeed, had he wedded an Indian of wealth,


s: Who died giving birth to this daughter, before


s: He was borne to the tomb of his wife at Mysore.


s: His fortune, which fell to his orphan, perchance


s: Had secured her a home with his sister in France,


s: A lone woman, the last of the race left.  Lucile


s: Neither felt, nor affected, the wish to conceal


s: The half-Eastern blood, which appear'd to bequeath


s: (Reveal'd now and then, though but rarely, beneath


s: That outward repose that concealed it in her)


s: A something half wild to her strange character.


s: The nurse with the orphan, awhile broken-hearted,


s: At the door of a convent in Paris had parted.


s: But later, once more, with her mistress she tarried,


s: When the girl, by that grim maiden aunt, had been married


s: To a dreary old Count, who had sullenly died,


s: With no claim on her tears--she had wept as a bride.


s: Said Lord Alfred, "Your mistress expects me."


s: Oped the drawing-room door, and there left him alone.


s: O'er the soft atmosphere of this temple of grace


s: Rested silence and perfume.  No sound reach'd the place.


s: In the white curtains waver'd the delicate shade


s: Of the heaving acacias, through which the breeze play'd.


s: O'er the smooth wooden floor, polished dark as a glass,


s: Fragrant white Indian matting allowed you to pass.


s: In light olive baskets, by window and door,


s: Some hung from the ceiling, some crowding the floor,


s: Rich wild flowers pluck'd by Lucile from the hill,


s: Seem'd the room with their passionate presence to fill:


s: Blue aconite, hid in white roses, reposed;


s: The deep belladonna its vermeil disclosed;


s: And the frail saponaire, and the tender blue-bell,


s: And the purple valerian,--each child of the fell


s: And the solitude flourish'd, fed fair from the source


s: Of waters the huntsman scarce heeds in his course


s: Where the chamois and izard, with delicate hoof,


s: Pause or flit through the pinnacled silence aloof.


s: Here you felt, by the sense of its beauty reposed,


s: That you stood in a shrine of sweet thoughts.  Half unclosed


s: In the light slept the flowers; all was pure and at rest;


s: All peaceful; all modest; all seem'd self-possess'd,


s: And aware of the silence.  No vestige nor trace


s: Of a young woman's coquetry troubled the place.


s: He stood by the window.  A cloud pass'd the sun.


s: A light breeze uplifted the leaves, one by one.


s: Just then Lucile enter'd the room, undiscern'd


s: By Lord Alfred, whose face to the window was turned,


s: In beholding that man, could not help but reveal


s: The rapture, the fear, which wrench'd out every nerve


s: In the heart of the girl from the woman's reserve.


s: And now--she gazed at him, calm, smiling,--perchance


s: Alfred Vargrave encounter'd that gaze unaware.


s: O'er a bodice snow-white stream'd her soft dusky hair:


s: A rose-bud half blown in her hand; in her eyes


s: Escaped from his lips: some unknown agitation.


s: An invincible trouble, a strange palpitation,


s: Confused his ingenious and frivolous wit;


s: Overtook, and entangled, and paralyzed it.


s: That wit so complacent and docile, that ever


s: Lightly came at the call of the lightest endeavor,


s: Ready coin'd, and availably current as gold,


s: Which, secure of its value, so fluently roll'd


s: In free circulation from hand on to hand


s: For the usage of all, at a moment's command;


s: For once it rebell'd, it was mute and unstirr'd,


s: And he looked at Lucile without speaking a word.


s: Perhaps what so troubled him was, that the face


s: On whose features he gazed had no more than a trace


s: Of the face his remembrance had imaged for years.


s: Yes! the face he remember'd was faded with tears:


s: Grief had famish'd the figure, and dimmed the dark eyes,


s: And starved the pale lips, too acquainted with sighs,


s: And that tender, and gracious, and fond coquetterie


s: Of a woman who knows her least ribbon to be


s: Something dear to the lips that so warmly caress


s: Every sacred detail of her exquisite dress,


s: In the careless toilet of Lucile--then too sad


s: To care aught to her changeable beauty to add--


s: Alas! poor Lucile, in those weak days of yore,


s: Had neglected herself, never heeding, or thinking


s: (While the blossom and bloom of her beauty were shrinking)


s: That sorrow can beautify only the heart--


s: Not the face--of a woman; and can but impart


s: Its endearment to one that has suffer'd.  In truth


s: Grief hath beauty for grief; but gay youth loves gay youth.


s: The woman that now met, unshrinking his gaze,


s: Seem'd to bask in the silent but sumptuous haze


s: Of that soft second summer, more ripe than the first,


s: Which returns when the bud to the blossom hath burst


s: In despite of the stormiest April.  Lucile


s: Had acquired that matchless unconscious appeal


s: To the homage which none but a churl would withhold--


s: That caressing and exquisite grace--never bold,


s: Ever present--which just a few women possess.


s: From a healthful repose, undisturb'd by the stress


s: Of unquiet emotions, her soft cheek had drawn


s: A freshness as pure as the twilight of dawn.


s: Her figure, though slight, had revived everywhere


s: The luxurious proportions of youth; and her hair--


s: Once shorn as an offering to passionate love--


s: Her airy pure forehead and throat; gather'd loose


s: Under which, by one violet knot, the profuse


s: Milk-white folds of a cool modest garment reposed,


s: Rippled faint by the breast they half hid, half disclosed,


s: And her simple attire thus in all things reveal'd


s: The fine art which so artfully all things conceal'd.


s: Lord Alfred, who never conceived that Lucile


s: Could have look'd so enchanting, felt tempted to kneel


s: At her feet, and her pardon with passion implore;


s: But the calm smile that met him sufficed to restore


s: The pride and the bitterness needed to meet


s: The occasion with dignity due and discreet.


s: "Madam,"--thus he began with a voice reassured,--


s: "You see that your latest command has secured


s: Consider my freedom restored from this day."--


s: "I had thought," said Lucile, with a smile gay yet sad,


s: "That your freedom from me not a fetter has had.


s: Indeed!... in my chains have you rested till now?


s: "For Heaven's sake, Madam," Lord Alfred replied,


s: "Do not jest! has the moment no sadness?" he sigh'd.


s: "'Tis an ancient tradition," she answer'd, "a tale


s: Often told--a position too sure to prevail


s: In the end of all legends of love.  If we wrote,


s: When we first love, foreseeing that hour yet remote,


s: From the other the poor foolish records of all


s: Those emotions, whose pain, when recorded, seem'd bliss,


s: Should we write as we wrote?  But one thinks not of this!


s: At Twenty (who does not at Twenty?) we write


s: Believing eternal the frail vows we plight;


s: And we smile with a confident pity, above


s: The vulgar results of all poor human love:


s: For we deem, with that vanity common to youth,


s: Because what we feel in our bosoms, in truth,


s: Is novel to us--that 'tis novel to earth,


s: And will prove the exception, in durance and worth,


s: To the great law to which all on earth must incline.


s: Shall we blame it because we survive it? ah, no;


s: 'Twas the youth of our youth, my lord, is it not so?"


s: Lord Alfred was mute.  He remember'd her yet


s: A child--the weak sport of each moment's regret,


s: Blindly yielding herself to the errors of life,


s: The deceptions of youth, and borne down by the strife


s: And the tumult of passion; the tremulous toy


s: Of each transient emotion of grief or of joy.


s: But to watch her pronounce the death-warrant of all


s: The illusions of life--lift, unflinching, the pall


s: From the bier of the dead Past--that woman so fair,


s: And so young, yet her own self-survivor; who there


s: Traced her life's epitaph with a finger so cold!


s: 'Twas a picture that pain'd his self-love to behold.


s: He himself knew--none better--the things to be said


s: Upon subjects like this.  Yet he bow'd down his head:


s: And as thus, with a trouble he could not command,


s: He paused, crumpling the letters he held in his hand,


s: "You know me enough," she continued, "or what


s: I would say is, you yet recollect (do you not,


s: Lord Alfred?) enough of my nature, to know


s: That these pledges of what was perhaps long ago


s: From those motives of prudence which actuate all


s: Or most women when their love ceases.  Indeed,


s: If you have such a doubt, to dispel it I need


s: But remind you that ten years these letters have rested


s: Unreclaim'd in your hands."  A reproach seem'd suggested


s: By these words.  To meet it, Lord Alfred look'd up


s: (His gaze had been fix'd on a blue Sevres cup


s: With a look of profound connoisseurship--a smile


s: Of singular interest and care, all this while.)


s: He look'd up, and look'd long in the face of Lucile,


s: To mark if that face by a sign would reveal


s: At the thought of Miss Darcy the least jealous pain.


s: He look'd keenly and long, yet he look'd there in vain.


s: "You are generous, Madam," he murmur'd at last,


s: And into his voice a light irony pass'd.


s: He had look'd for reproaches, and fully arranged


s: His forces.  But straightway the enemy changed


s: With a smile whose divinely deep sweetness disclosed


s: Some depth in her nature he never had known,


s: While she tenderly laid her light hand on his own,


s: "Do not think I abuse the occasion.  We gain


s: Justice, judgment, with years, or else years are in vain.


s: From me not a single reproach can you hear.


s: I have sinn'd to myself--to the world--nay, I fear


s: To you chiefly.  The woman who loves should, indeed,


s: Be the friend of the man that she loves.  She should heed


s: Not her selfish and often mistaken desires,


s: But his interest whose fate her own interest inspires;


s: And rather than seek to allure, for her sake,


s: His life down the turbulent, fanciful wake


s: Of impossible destinies, use all her art


s: That his place in the world find its place in her heart.


s: I, alas!--I perceived not this truth till too late;


s: I tormented your youth, I have darken'd your fate.


s: Forgive me the ill I have done for the sake


s: Seem'd to wander from dream on to dream.  In that seat


s: Where he sat as a criminal, ready to meet


s: His accuser, he found himself turn'd by some change,


s: As surprising and all unexpected as strange,


s: To the judge from whose mercy indulgence was sought.


s: All the world's foolish pride in that moment was naught;


s: He felt all his plausible theories posed;


s: And, thrill'd by the beauty of nature disclosed


s: In the pathos of all he had witness'd, his head


s: He bow'd, and faint words self-reproachfully said,


s: As he lifted her hand to his lips.  'Twas a hand


s: White, delicate, dimpled, warm, languid, and bland.


s: Somewhat rough, somewhat red, somewhat graceless, in truth;


s: Does its beauty refine, as its pulses grow calm,


s: Or as Sorrow has cross'd the life-line in the palm?


s: The more that he look'd, that he listen'd, the more


s: He discover'd perfections unnoticed before.


s: Less salient than once, less poetic, perchance,


s: This woman who thus had survived the romance


s: That had made him its hero, and breathed him its sighs,


s: Seem'd more charming a thousand times o'er to his eyes.


s: Together they talk'd of the years since when last


s: They parted, contrasting the present, the past.


s: Yet no memory marr'd their light converse.  Lucile


s: Question'd much, with the interest a sister might feel,


s: Of Lord Alfred's new life,--of Miss Darcy--her face,


s: Her temper, accomplishments--pausing to trace


s: The advantage derived from a hymen so fit.


s: Of herself, she recounted with humor and wit


s: Her journeys, her daily employments, the lands


s: She had seen, and the books she had read, and the hands


s: Of light scorn at her work, reveal'd only so much


s: As their gleams, in the thyrsus that Bacchanals bear,


s: Through the blooms of a garland the point of a spear.


s: But above, and beneath, and beyond all of this,


s: To that soul, whose experience had paralyzed bliss,


s: A benignant indulgence, to all things resign'd,


s: A justice, a sweetness, a meekness of mind,


s: Gave a luminous beauty, as tender and faint


s: And serene as the halo encircling a saint.


s: Unobserved by Lord Alfred the time fleeted by.


s: He abandon'd himself with that ardor so strange


s: Which belongs to a mind grown accustom'd to change.


s: He sought, with well-practised and delicate art,


s: To surprise from Lucile the true state of her heart;


s: But his efforts were vain, and the woman, as ever,


s: More adroit than the man, baffled every endeavor.


s: When he deem'd he had touch'd on some chord in her being,


s: At the touch it dissolved, and was gone.  Ever fleeing


s: As ever he near it advanced, when he thought


s: To have seized, and proceeded to analyze aught


s: Of the moral existence, the absolute soul,


s: Light as vapor the phantom escaped his control.


s: From the hall, on a sudden, a sharp ring was heard.


s: In the passage without a quick footstep there stirr'd;


s: At the door knock'd the negress, and thrust in her head,


s: "The Duke de Luvois had just enter'd," she said,


s: The Duke's step, approaching, a light echo woke).


s: "Say I do not receive till the evening.  Explain,"


s: As she glanced at Lord Alfred, she added again,


s: "I have business of private importance."


s: O'er Lord Alfred at once, at the sound of that name,


s: An invincible sense of vexation.  He turn'd


s: To Lucile, and he fancied he faintly discern'd


s: On her face an indefinite look of confusion.


s: On his mind instantaneously flash'd the conclusion


s: Which he could not repress, "Let not ME interfere


s: With the claims on your time, lady! when you are free


s: From more pleasant engagements, allow me to see


s: Ere he wish'd to recall them.  He bitterly read


s: The mistake he had made in Lucile's flashing eye.


s: More reproachful perchance than all utter'd rebuke,


s: She said merely, resuming her seat, "Tell the Duke


s: Alfred Vargrave bow'd low to Lucile de Nevers,


s: Pass'd the casement and enter'd the garden.  Before


s: His shadow was fled the Duke stood at the door.


s: When left to his thoughts in the garden alone,


s: Alfred Vargrave stood, strange to himself.  With dull tone


s: Of importance, through cities of rose and carnation,


s: Went the bee on his business from station to station.


s: The minute mirth of summer was shrill all around;


s: Its incessant small voices like stings seem'd to sound


s: On his sore angry sense.  He stood grieving the hot


s: Solid sun with his shadow, nor stirr'd from the spot.


s: The last look of Lucile still bewilder'd, perplex'd,


s: And reproach'd him.  The Duke's visit goaded and vex'd.


s: He had not yet given the letters.  Again


s: He must visit Lucile.  He resolved to remain


s: Where he was till the Duke went.  In short, he would stay,


s: Were it only to know when the Duke went away.


s: But just as he form'd this resolve, he perceived


s: Approaching towards him, between the thick-leaved


s: And luxuriant laurels, Lucile and the Duke.


s: Thus surprised, his first thought was to seek for some nook


s: Whence he might, unobserved, from the garden retreat.


s: They had not yet seen him.  The sound of their feet


s: And their voices had warn'd him in time.  They were walking


s: Towards him.  The Duke (a true Frenchman) was talking


s: With the action of Talma.  He saw at a glance


s: That they barr'd the sole path to the gateway.  No chance


s: Of escape save in instant concealment!  Deep-dipp'd


s: In thick foliage, an arbor stood near.  In he slipp'd,


s: Saved from sight, as in front of that ambush they pass'd,


s: Still conversing.  Beneath a laburnum at last


s: They paused, and sat down on a bench in the shade,


s: So close that he could not but hear what they said.


s: So deeply to see you to-day.  You retired


s: So early last night from the ball... this whole week


s: I have seen you pale, silent, preoccupied... speak,


s: Speak, Lucile, and forgive me!... I know that I am


s: A rash fool--but I love you! I love you, Madame.


s: More than language can say!  Do not deem, O Lucile,


s: That the love I no longer have strength to conceal


s: Is a passing caprice!  It is strange to my nature,


s: It has made me, unknown to myself, a new creature.


s: I implore you to sanction and save the new life


s: Which I lay at your feet with this prayer--Be my wife


s: The sudden, acute pang of anger and pain


s: With which he had heard this.  As though to some wind


s: The leaves of the hush'd, windless laurels behind


s: The two thus in converse were suddenly stirr'd.


s: The sound half betrayed him.  They started.  He heard


s: The low voice of Lucile; but so faint was its tone


s: As though in remonstrance with what had been spoken.


s: "Nay, I know it, Lucile! but your heart was not broken


s: By the trial in which all its fibres were proved.


s: Love, perchance, you mistrust, yet you need to be loved.


s: You mistake your own feelings.  I fear you mistake


s: What so ill I interpret, those feelings which make


s: Words like these vague and feeble.  Whatever your heart


s: May have suffer'd of yore, this can only impart


s: A pity profound to the love which I feel.


s: Hush! hush! I know all.  Tell me nothing, Lucile."


s: "You know all, Duke?" she said; "well then, know that, in truth,


s: I have learn'd from the rude lesson taught to my youth


s: From my own heart to shelter my life; to mistrust


s: The heart of another.  We are what we must,


s: And not what we would be.  I know that one hour


s: Assures not another.  The will and the power


s: With a feeling you know to be true and intense.


s: 'Tis not MY life, Lucile, that I plead for alone:


s: If your nature I know, 'tis no less for your own.


s: That nature will prey on itself; it was made


s: To influence others.  Consider," he said,


s: "That genius craves power--what scope for it here?


s: Gifts less noble to ME give command of that sphere


s: In which genius IS power.  Such gifts you despise?


s: But you do not disdain what such gifts realize!


s: A fortune which worthless, without you, is grown--


s: All my life at your feet I lay down--at your feet


s: A heart which for you, and you only, can beat."


s: That heart, Duke, that life--I respect both.  The name


s: And position you offer, and all that you claim


s: In behalf of their nobler employment, I feel


s: To deserve what, in turn, I now ask you--


s: I ask you to leave me the time to reflect.


s: By Lord Alfred; for just then she rose, and moved on.


s: The Duke bow'd his lips o'er her hand, and was gone.


s: Not a sound save the birds in the bushes.  And when


s: Alfred Vargrave reel'd forth to the sunlight again,


s: He just saw the white robe of the woman recede


s: Of his steps, he too follow'd, and enter'd.


s: Unnoticed; Lucile never stirr'd: so concentred


s: And wholly absorb'd in her thoughts she appear'd.


s: Her back to the window was turn'd.  As he near'd


s: The sofa, her face from the glass was reflected.


s: Her dark eyes were fix'd on the ground.  Pale, dejected,


s: And lost in profound meditation she seem'd.


s: Softly, silently, over her droop'd shoulders stream'd


s: The afternoon sunlight.  The cry of alarm


s: And surprise which escaped her, as now on her arm


s: Alfred Vargrave let fall a hand icily cold


s: And clammy as death, all too cruelly told


s: Was disturb'd with the effort it cost him to speak.


s: "It was not my fault.  I have heard all," he said.


s: "Now the letters--and farewell, Lucile!  When you wed


s: The sentence broke short, like a weapon that snaps


s: Said Lucile (her sole answer reveal'd in the flush


s: Of quick color which up to her brow seem'd to rush


s: In reply to those few broken words), "this farewell


s: Is our last, Alfred Vargrave, in life.  Who can tell?


s: Let us part without bitterness.  Here are your letters.


s: Be assured I retain you no more in my fetters!"--


s: She laughed, as she said this, a little sad laugh,


s: And stretched out her hand with the letters.  And half


s: Wroth to feel his wrath rise, and unable to trust


s: His own powers of restraint, in his bosom he thrust


s: The packet she gave, with a short angry sigh,


s: Bow'd his head, and departed without a reply.


s: And Lucile was alone.  And the men of the world


s: Were gone back to the world.  And the world's self was furl'd


s: Far away from the heart of the woman.  Her hand


s: Droop'd, and from it, unloosed from their frail silken band,


s: Fell those early love-letters, strewn, scatter'd, and shed


s: At her feet--life's lost blossoms!  Dejected, her head


s: On her bosom was bow'd.  Her gaze vaguely stray'd o'er


s: Those strewn records of passionate moments no more.


s: From each page to her sight leapt some words that belied


s: The composure with which she that day had denied


s: Every claim on her heart to those poor perish'd years.


s: They avenged themselves now, and she burst into tears.


s: "Time up, you rascal!  Come back, or be hang'd.


s: Matilda grows peevish.  Her mother harangued


s: For a whole hour this morning about you.  The deuce!


s: What on earth can I say to you?--nothing's of use.


s: And the blame of the whole of your shocking behavior


s: Falls on ME, sir!  Come back,--do you hear?--or I leave your


s: Affairs, and, abjure you forever.  Come back


s: To your anxious betroth'd; and perplexed


s: Alfred needed, in truth, no entreaties from John


s: To increase his impatience to fly from Luchon.


s: All the place was now fraught with sensations of pain


s: Which, whilst in it, he strove to escape from in vain.


s: A wild instinct warn'd him to fly from a place


s: Where he felt that some fatal event, swift of pace,


s: Was approaching his life.  In despite his endeavor


s: Was effaced from his fancy by that of Lucile.


s: From the ground which he stood on he felt himself reel.


s: Scared, alarm'd by those feelings to which, on the day


s: Just before, all his heart had so soon given way,


s: When he caught, with a strange sense of fear, for assistance,


s: And what was, till then, the great fact in existence,


s: He order'd his horse, and determin'd to ride


s: Every haunt of those hills, said the wild lake of Oo


s: Lay a league from Luchon; and suggested a track


s: By the lake to Bigorre, which, transversing the back


s: Of the mountain, avoided a circuit between


s: Two long valleys; and thinking, "Perchance change of scene


s: May create change of thought," Alfred Vargrave agreed,


s: Mounted horse, and set forth to Bigorre at full speed.


s: The gallant Bernard! ever boldly he rides,


s: Ever gayly he sings!  For to him, from of old,


s: The hills have confided their secrets, and told


s: Where the white partridge lies, and the cock o' the woods;


s: Where the izard flits fine through the cold solitudes;


s: Where the bear lurks perdu; and the lynx on his prey


s: At nightfall descends, when the mountains are gray;


s: Where the sassafras blooms, and the bluebell is born,


s: And the wild rhododendron first reddens at morn;


s: Where the source of the waters is fine as a thread;


s: How the storm on the wild Maladetta is spread;


s: Where the thunder is hoarded, the snows lie asleep,


s: Whence the torrents are fed, and the cataracts leap;


s: And, familiarly known in the hamlets, the vales


s: Have whisper'd to him all their thousand love-tales;


s: He has laugh'd with the girls, he has leap'd with the boys;


s: Ever blithe, ever bold, ever boon, he enjoys


s: An existence untroubled by envy or strife,


s: While he feeds on the dews and the juices of life.


s: And so lightly he sings, and so gayly he rides,


s: For BERNARD LE SAUTEUR is the king of all guides!


s: But Bernard found, that day, neither song not love-tale,


s: Nor adventure, nor laughter, nor legend avail


s: To arouse from his deep and profound revery


s: Him that silent beside him rode fast as could be.


s: Ascending the mountain they slacken'd their pace,


s: And the marvellous prospect each moment changed face.


s: The breezy and pure inspirations of morn


s: Breathed about them.  The scarp'd ravaged mountains, all worn


s: By the torrents, whose course they watch'd faintly meander,


s: Were alive with the diamonded shy salamander.


s: They paused o'er the bosom of purple abysses,


s: And wound through a region of green wildernesses;


s: The waters went whirling above and around,


s: The forests hung heap'd in their shadows profound.


s: Here the Larboust, and there Aventin, Castellon,


s: Which the Demon of Tempest, descending upon,


s: Had wasted with fire, and the peaceful Cazeaux


s: They mark'd; and far down in the sunshine below,


s: Half dipp'd in a valley of airiest blue,


s: The white happy homes of the valley of Oo,


s: The wrecks of the combat of Titans were spread.


s: Red granite, and quartz; in the alchemic sun,


s: Fused their splendors of crimson and crystal in one;


s: And deep in the moss gleam'd the delicate shells,


s: And the dew linger'd fresh in the heavy harebells;


s: The large violet burn'd; the campanula blue;


s: And Autumn's own flower, the saffron, peer'd through


s: The red-berried brambles and thick sassafras;


s: And fragrant with thyme was the delicate grass;


s: And high up, and higher, and highest of all,


s: Of a gray sunless glen gaping drowsy below,


s: That aerial spectre, reveal'd in the glow


s: Of the great golden dawn, hovers faint on the eye


s: And appears to grow in, and grow out of, the sky


s: And plays with the fancy, and baffles the sight.


s: Only reach'd by the vast rosy ripple of light,


s: And the cool star of eve, the Imperial Thing,


s: Half unreal, like some mythological king


s: Takes command of a valley as fair to behold


s: As aught in old fables; and, seen or unseen,


s: Dwells aloof over all, in the vast and serene


s: Sacred sky, where the footsteps of spirits are furl'd


s: 'Mid the clouds beyond which spreads the infinite world


s: Of man's last aspirations, unfathom'd, untrod,


s: Save by Even and Morn, and the angels of God.


s: Meanwhile, as they journey'd, that serpentine road,


s: Now abruptly reversed, unexpectedly show'd


s: A gay cavalcade some few feet in advance.


s: Alfred Vargrave's heart beat; for he saw at a glance


s: The slight form of Lucile in the midst.  His next look


s: Show'd him, joyously ambling beside her, the Duke


s: The rest of the troop which had thus caught his ken


s: He knew not, nor noticed them (women and men).


s: They were laughing and talking together.  Soon after


s: His sudden appearance suspended their laughter.


s: "You here!... I imagined you far on your way


s: To Bigorre!"... said Lucile.  "What has caused you to stay?"


s: "I AM on my way to Bigorre," he replied,


s: "But since MY way would seem to be YOURS, let me ride


s: For one moment beside you."  And then, with a stoop


s: As the cloud 'neath their feet, on its way to the vale.


s: The Duke had observed it, nor quitted her side,


s: For even one moment, the whole of the ride.


s: Alfred smiled, as he thought, "he is jealous of her!"


s: And the thought of this jealousy added a spur


s: To his firm resolution and effort to please.


s: He talk'd much; was witty, and quite at his ease.


s: After noontide, the clouds, which had traversed the east


s: Half the day, gather'd closer, and rose and increased.


s: The air changed and chill'd.  As though out of the ground,


s: There ran up the trees a confused hissing sound,


s: And the wind rose.  The guides sniff'd, like chamois, the air,


s: And look'd at each other, and halted, and there


s: Unbuckled the cloaks from the saddles.  The white


s: Aspens rustled, and turn'd up their frail leaves in fright.


s: All announced the approach of the tempest.


s: Thick darkness descended the mountains among,


s: And a vivid, vindictive, and serpentine flash


s: Gored the darkness, and shore it across with a gash.


s: The rain fell in large heavy drops.  And anon


s: The Duke's in a moment was far out of sight.


s: The guides whoop'd.  The band was obliged to alight;


s: And, dispersed up the perilous pathway, walk'd blind


s: To the darkness before from the darkness behind.


s: And the Storm is abroad in the mountains!


s: The crouch'd hollows and all the oracular hills


s: With dread voices of power.  A roused million or more


s: Of wild echoes reluctantly rise from their hoar


s: Of the cloud, whose reflection leaves vivid the lake.


s: And the wind, that wild robber, for plunder descends


s: From invisible lands, o'er those black mountain ends;


s: He howls as he hounds down his prey; and his lash


s: Tears the hair of the timorous wan mountain-ash,


s: That clings to the rocks, with her garments all torn,


s: Like a woman in fear; then he blows his hoarse horn


s: And is off, the fierce guide of destruction and terror,


s: Up the desolate heights, 'mid an intricate error


s: Lo! the black-winged legions of tempest arise


s: O'er those sharp splinter'd rocks that are gleaming below


s: In the soft light, so fair and so fatal, as though


s: Some seraph burn'd through them, the thunderbolt searching


s: Which the black cloud unbosom'd just now.  Lo! the lurching


s: And shivering pine-trees, like phantoms, that seem


s: To waver above, in the dark; and yon stream,


s: How it hurries and roars, on its way to the white


s: And paralyzed lake there, appall'd at the sight


s: That had gather'd around him, Lord Alfred now saw,


s: Reveal'd in the fierce and evanishing glare


s: Of the lightning that momently pulsed through the air


s: With her cheek coldly propp'd on her hand,--and as still


s: As the rock that she sat on, which beetled above


s: Added speed to the instinct with which he rush'd on.


s: For one moment the blue lightning swathed the whole stone


s: In its lurid embrace: like the sleek dazzling snake


s: That encircles a sorceress, charm'd for her sake


s: And lull'd by her loveliness; fawning, it play'd


s: And caressingly twined round the feet and the head


s: Of the woman who sat there, undaunted and calm


s: As the soul of that solitude, listing the psalm


s: Of the plangent and laboring tempests roll slow


s: From the caldron of midnight and vapor below.


s: Next moment from bastion to bastion, all round,


s: Of the siege-circled mountains, there tumbled the sound


s: Of the battering thunder's indefinite peal,


s: And Lord Alfred had sprung to the feet of Lucile.


s: She started.  Once more, with its flickering wand,


s: The lightning approach'd her.  In terror, her hand


s: Alfred Vargrave had seized within his; and he felt


s: The light fingers, that coldly and lingeringly dwelt


s: In the grasp of his own, tremble faintly.


s: Where the whirlwind hath stricken and strangled yon tree!"


s: She exclaim'd,... "like the passion that brings on its breath,


s: To the being it embraces, destruction and death!


s: Alfred Vargrave, the lightning is round you!"


s: I hear--I see--naught but yourself.  I can feel


s: Nothing here but your presence.  My pride fights in vain


s: With the truth that leaps from me.  We two meet again


s: 'Neath yon terrible heaven that is watching above


s: To avenge if I lie when I swear that I love,--


s: And beneath yonder terrible heaven, at your feet,


s: I humble my head and my heart.  I entreat


s: Your pardon, Lucile, for the past--I implore


s: For the future your mercy--implore it with more


s: Of passion than prayer ever breathed.  By the power


s: Which invisibly touches us both in this hour,


s: By the rights I have o'er you, Lucile, I demand--"


s: "The rights!"... said Lucile, and drew from him her hand.


s: "Yes, the rights! for what greater to man may belong


s: Than the right to repair in the future the wrong


s: To the past? and the wrong I have done you, of yore,


s: Hath bequeath'd to me all the sad right to restore,


s: To retrieve, to amend!  I, who injured your life,


s: Urge the right to repair it, Lucile!  Be my wife,


s: My guide, my good angel, my all upon earth,


s: And accept, for the sake of what yet may give worth


s: O'er the cheek of Lucile a swift flush like the flame


s: That illumined at moments the darkness o'erhead.


s: With a voice faint and marr'd by emotion, she said,


s: "My honor will live where my love lives, unshamed.


s: 'Twere poor honor indeed, to another to give


s: That life of which YOU keep the heart.  Could I live


s: In the light of those young eyes, suppressing a lie?


s: Alas, no! YOUR hand holds my whole destiny.


s: I can never recall what my lips have avow'd;


s: In your love lies whatever can render me proud.


s: For the great crime of all my existence hath been


s: To have known you in vain.  And the duty best seen,


s: And most hallow'd--the duty most sacred and sweet,


s: Is that which hath led me, Lucile, to your feet.


s: O speak! and restore me the blessing I lost


s: When I lost you--my pearl of all pearls beyond cost!


s: And restore to your own life its youth, and restore


s: The vision, the rapture, the passion of yore!


s: Ere our brows had been dimm'd in the dust of the world,


s: When our souls their white wings yet exulting unfurl'd!


s: For your eyes rest no more on the unquiet man,


s: The wild star of whose course its pale orbit outran,


s: Whom the formless indefinite future of youth,


s: With its lying allurements, distracted.  In truth


s: I have wearily wander'd the world, and I feel


s: That the least of your lovely regards, O Lucile,


s: Is worth all the world can afford, and the dream


s: Which, though follow'd forever, forever doth seem


s: As fleeting, and distant, and dim, as of yore


s: When it brooded in twilight, at dawn, on the shore


s: Of life's untraversed ocean!  I know the sole path


s: To repose, which my desolate destiny hath,


s: Is the path by whose course to your feet I return.


s: And who else, O Lucile, will so truly discern,


s: And so deeply revere, all the passionate strength,


s: The sublimity in you, as he whom at length


s: These have saved from himself, for the truth they reveal


s: The light hand and arm, that upon him reposed,


s: Thrill and tremble.  Those dark eyes of hers were half closed.


s: But, under their languid mysterious fringe,


s: A passionate softness was beaming.  One tinge


s: Of faint inward fire flush'd transparently through


s: The delicate, pallid, and pure olive hue


s: Of the cheek, half averted and droop'd.  The rich bosom


s: Heaved, as when in the heart of a ruffled rose-blossom


s: The sun, in his setting, sent up the last smile


s: Of his power, to baffle the storm.  And, behold!


s: O'er the mountains embattled, his armies, all gold,


s: Rose and rested: while far up the dim airy crags,


s: Its artillery silenced, its banners in rags,


s: The rear of the tempest its sullen retreat


s: Drew off slowly, receding in silence, to meet


s: The powers of the night, which, now gathering afar,


s: Had already sent forward one bright, signal star


s: The curls of her soft and luxuriant hair,


s: From the dark riding-hat, which Lucile used to wear,


s: Had escaped; and Lord Alfred now cover'd with kisses


s: The redolent warmth of those long falling tresses.


s: Neither he, nor Lucile, felt the rain, which not yet


s: Approached them as fast as the road, and his horse,


s: Which was limping, would suffer.  The beast had just now


s: Lost his footing, and over the perilous brow


s: Of the storm-haunted mountain his master had thrown;


s: But the Duke, who was agile, had leap'd to a stone,


s: And the horse, being bred to the instinct which fills


s: The breast of the wild mountaineer in these hills,


s: Had scrambled again to his feet; and now master


s: And horse bore about them the signs of disaster,


s: As they heavily footed their way through the mist,


s: The horse with his shoulder, the Duke with his wrist,


s: O reader, have traversed these mountains alone,


s: Have you felt your identity shrink and contract


s: At the sound of the distant and dim cataract,


s: In the presence of nature's immensities?  Say,


s: Have you hung o'er the torrent, bedew'd with its spray,


s: And, leaving the rock-way, contorted and roll'd,


s: Like a huge couchant Typhon, fold heaped over fold,


s: Track'd the summits from which every step that you tread


s: Rolls the loose stones, with thunder below, to the bed


s: Of invisible waters, whose mistical sound


s: Fills with awful suggestions the dizzy profound?


s: And, laboring onwards, at last through a break


s: In the walls of the world, burst at once on the lake?


s: If you have, this description I might have withheld.


s: You remember how strangely your bosom has swell'd


s: At the vision reveal'd.  On the overwork'd soil


s: Of this planet, enjoyment is sharpen'd by toil;


s: And one seems, by the pain of ascending the height,


s: To have conquer'd a claim of that wonderful sight.


s: Hail, virginal daughter of cold Espingo!


s: Hail, Naiad, whose realm is the cloud and the snow;


s: For o'er thee the angels have whiten'd their wings,


s: And the thirst of the seraphs is quench'd at thy springs.


s: What hand hath, in heaven, upheld thine expanse?


s: When the breath of creation first fashion'd fair France,


s: Did the Spirit of Ill, in his downthrow appalling,


s: Bruise the world, and thus hollow thy basin while falling?


s: Ere the mammoth was born hath some monster unnamed


s: The base of thy mountainous pedestal framed?


s: And later, when Power to Beauty was wed,


s: Did some delicate fairy embroider thy bed


s: With the fragile valerian and wild columbine?


s: But thy secret thou keepest, and I will keep mine;


s: For once gazing on thee, it flash'd on my soul,


s: All that secret!  I saw in a vision the whole


s: Vast design of the ages; what was and shall be!


s: Hands unseen raised the veil of a great mystery


s: For one moment.  I saw, and I heard; and my heart


s: In infinite power proving infinite love;


s: Caught the great choral chant, mark'd the dread pageant move--


s: The divine Whence and Whither of life!  But, O daughter


s: Of Oo, not more safe in the deep silent water


s: Is thy secret, than mine in my heart.  Even so.


s: What I then saw and heard, the world never shall know.


s: The dimness of eve o'er the valleys had closed,


s: The rain had ceased falling, the mountains reposed.


s: The stars had enkindled in luminous courses


s: Their slow-sliding lamps, when, remounting their horses,


s: The riders retraversed that mighty serration


s: Of rock-work.  Thus left to its own desolation,


s: The lake, from whose glimmering limits the last


s: Transient pomp of the pageants of sunset had pass'd,


s: Drew into its bosom the darkness, and only


s: And tremulous phantom of flickering light


s: That follow'd the mystical moon through the night.


s: It was late when o'er Luchon at last they descended.


s: To her chalet, in silence, Lord Alfred attended


s: Lucile.  As they parted, she whispered him low,


s: "You have made to me, Alfred, an offer I know


s: All the worth of, believe me.  I cannot reply


s: Without time for reflection.  Good night!--not good by."


s: "Alas! 'tis the very same answer you made


s: To the Duc de Luvois but a day since," he said.


s: "No, Alfred! the very same, no," she replied.


s: Her voice shook.  "If you love me, obey me.  Abide


s: You Cassandra in breeches and boots! turn your back


s: To the ruins of Troy.  Prophet, seek not for glory


s: Up!--forth again, Pegasus!--"Many's the slip,"


s: Hath the proverb well said, "'twixt the cup and the lip!"


s: How blest should we be, have I often conceived,


s: Had we really achieved what we nearly achieved!


s: We but catch at the skirts of the thing we would be,


s: And fall back on the lap of a false destiny.


s: So it will be, so has been, since this world began!


s: And the happiest, noblest, and best part of man


s: Is the part which he never hath fully play'd out:


s: For the first and last word in life's volume is--


s: The face of the most fair to our vision allow'd


s: Is the face we encounter and lose in the crowd.


s: The thought that most thrills our existence is one


s: Which, before we can frame it in language, is gone.


s: O Horace! the rustic still rests by the river,


s: But the river flows on, and flows past him forever!


s: Who can sit down, and say... "What I will be, I will"?


s: Who stand up, and affirm... "What I was, I am still"?


s: Who is that must not, if question'd, say......


s: I would have remain'd or become, I am not"?


s: We are ever behind, or beyond, or beside


s: Our intrinsic existence.  Forever at hide


s: And seek with our souls.  Not in Hades alone


s: Doth Sisyphus roll, ever frustrate, the stone,


s: Do the Danaids ply, ever vainly, the sieve.


s: Tasks as futile does earth to its denizens give.


s: Yet there's none so unhappy, but what he hath been


s: Just about to be happy, at some time, I ween;


s: And none so beguiled and defrauded by chance,


s: But what once in his life, some minute circumstance


s: Would have fully sufficed to secure him the bliss


s: Which, missing it then, he forever must miss.


s: And to most of us, ere we go down to the grave,


s: Life, relenting, accords the good gift we would have;


s: But, as though by some strange imperfection in fate,


s: The good gift, when it comes, comes a moment too late.


s: The Future's great veil our breath fitfully flaps,


s: And behind it broods ever the mighty Perhaps.


s: Yet! there's many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip;


s: But while o'er the brim of life's beaker I dip,


s: Though the cup may next moment be shatter'd, the wine


s: In the deeps of my soul, and possess'd there alone!


s: My days know thee not; and my lips name thee never.


s: Thy place in my poor life is vacant forever.


s: We have met: we have parted.  No more is recorded


s: In my annals on earth.  This alone was afforded


s: To the man whom men know me, or deem me, to be.


s: But, far down, in the depth of my life's mystery,


s: (Like the siren that under the deep ocean dwells,


s: Whom the wind as it wails, and the wave as it swells,


s: Cannot stir in the calm of her coralline halls,


s: 'Mid the world's adamantine and dim pedestals;


s: At whose feet sit the sylphs and sea fairies; for whom


s: The almondine glimmers, the soft samphires bloom)--


s: Thou abidest and reignest forever, O Queen


s: Of that better world which thou swayest unseen!


s: My one perfect mistress! my all things in all!


s: Thee by no vulgar name known to men do I call;


s: For the Seraphs have named thee to me in my sleep,


s: And that name is a secret I sacredly keep.


s: But, wherever this nature of mine is most fair,


s: And its thoughts are the purest--belov'd, thou art there!


s: And whatever is noblest in aught that I do,


s: Is done to exalt and to worship thee too.


s: The world gave thee not to me, no! and the world


s: Cannot take thee away from me now.  I have furl'd


s: The wings of my spirit above thy bright head;


s: At thy feet are my soul's immortalities spread.


s: Thou mightest have been to me much.  Thou art more.


s: And in silence I worship, in darkness adore.


s: If life be not that which without us we find--


s: Chance, accident, merely--but rather the mind,


s: And the soul which, within us, surviveth these things,


s: If our real existence have truly its springs


s: Less in that which we do than in that which we feel,


s: Not in vain do I worship, not hopeless I kneel!


s: For then, though I name thee not mistress or wife,


s: Thou art mine--and mine only,--O life of my life!


s: And though many's the slip 'twixt the cup and the lip,


s: Yet while o'er the brim of life's beaker I dip,


s: While there's life on the lip, while there's warmth in the wine,


s: One deep health I'll pledge, and that health shall be thine!


s: This world, on whose peaceable breast we repose


s: Unconvulsed by alarm, once confused in the throes


s: Of a tumult divine, sea and land, moist and dry,


s: And in fiery fusion commix'd earth and sky.


s: Time cool'd it, and calm'd it, and taught it to go


s: The round of its orbit in peace, long ago.


s: The wind changeth and whirleth continually:


s: All the rivers run down and run into the sea:


s: The wind whirleth about, and is presently still'd:


s: All the rivers run down, yet the sea is not fill'd:


s: The sun goeth forth from his chambers; the sun


s: All returns to its place.  Use and Habit are powers


s: Far stronger than Passion, in this world of ours.


s: The great laws of life readjust their infraction,


s: And to every emotion appoint a reaction.


s: Alfred Vargrave had time, after leaving Lucile,


s: To review the rash step he had taken, and feel


s: What the world would have call'd "his erroneous position."


s: Thought obtruded its claim, and enforced recognition:


s: Like a creditor who, when the gloss is worn out


s: On the coat which we once wore with pleasure, no doubt,


s: Sends us in his account for the garment we bought.


s: Ev'ry spendthrift to passion is debtor to thought.


s: He felt ill at ease with himself.  He could feel


s: Little doubt what the answer would be from Lucile.


s: Her eyes, when they parted--her voice, when they met,


s: Still enraptured his heart, which they haunted.  And yet,


s: Though, exulting, he deem'd himself loved, where he loved,


s: Through his mind a vague self-accusation there moved.


s: O'er his fancy, when fancy was fairest, would rise


s: The infantine face of Matilda, with eyes


s: So sad, so reproachful, so cruelly kind,


s: That his heart fail'd within him.  In vain did he find


s: A thousand just reasons for what he had done;


s: The vision that troubled him would not be gone.


s: In vain did he say to himself, and with truth,


s: "Matilda has beauty, and fortune, and youth;


s: And her heart is too young to have deeply involved


s: All its hopes in the tie which must now be dissolved.


s: 'Twere a false sense of honor in me to suppress


s: The sad truth which I owe it to her to confess.


s: And what reason have I to presume this poor life


s: Of my own, with its languid and frivolous strife,


s: And without what alone might endear it to her,


s: Were a boon all so precious, indeed, to confer,


s: I were bound to some poor village maiden, I know,


s: Unto whose simple heart mine were all upon earth,


s: Or to whose simple fortunes mine own could give worth.


s: Matilda, in all the world's gifts, will not miss


s: Aught that I could procure her.  'Tis best as it is!"


s: In vain did he say to himself, "When I came


s: To this fatal spot, I had nothing to blame


s: Or reproach myself for, in the thoughts of my heart.


s: I could not foresee that its pulses would start


s: Into such strange emotion on seeing once more


s: A woman I left with indifference before.


s: I believed, and with honest conviction believed,


s: In my love for Matilda.  I never conceived


s: That another could shake it.  I deem'd I had done


s: With the wild heart of youth, and looked hopefully on


s: To the soberer manhood, the worthier life,


s: Which I sought in the love that I vow'd to my wife.


s: Poor child! she shall learn the whole truth.  She shall know


s: What I knew not myself but a few days ago.


s: The world will console her--her pride will support--


s: Her youth will renew its emotions.  In short,


s: There is nothing in me that Matilda will miss


s: When once we have parted.  'Tis best as it is!"


s: But in vain did he reason and argue.  Alas!


s: He yet felt unconvinced that 'TWAS best as it was.


s: Out of reach of all reason, forever would rise


s: That infantine face of Matilda, with eyes


s: So sad, so reproachful, so cruelly kind,


s: That they harrow'd his heart and distracted his mind.


s: And then, when he turned from these thoughts to Lucile,


s: Though his heart rose enraptured he could not but feel


s: A vague sense of awe of her nature.  Behind


s: All the beauty of heart, and the graces of mind,


s: Which he saw and revered in her, something unknown


s: And unseen in that nature still troubled his own.


s: He felt that Lucile penetrated and prized


s: Whatever was noblest and best, though disguised,


s: In himself; but he did not feel sure that he knew,


s: Or completely possess'd, what, half hidden from view,


s: So untamed and so free! would she yield as a wife


s: Independence, long claimed as a woman?  Her name


s: So link'd by the world with that spurious fame


s: Which the beauty and wit of a woman assert,


s: In some measure, alas! to her own loss and hurt


s: In the serious thoughts of a man!... This reflection


s: O'er the love which he felt cast a shade of dejection,


s: From which he forever escaped to the thought


s: Doubt could reach not... "I love her, and all else is naught!"


s: His hand trembled strangely in breaking the seal


s: Of the letter which reach'd him at last from Lucile.


s: At the sight of the very first words that he read,


s: That letter dropp'd down from his hand like the dead


s: Leaf in autumn, that, falling, leaves naked and bare


s: He pass'd his hand hurriedly over his eyes,


s: Bewilder'd, incredulous.  Angry surprise


s: And dismay, in one sharp moan, broke from him.  Anon


s: He picked up the page, and read rapidly on.


s: We two met, rose the glamour and mist of the past,


s: It hath now rolled away, and our two paths are plain,


s: Mine one moment has clasp'd as the hand of a brother,


s: That hand and your honor are pledged to another!


s: Forgive, Alfred Vargrave, forgive me, if yet


s: For that moment (now past!) I have made you forget


s: What was due to yourself and that other one.  Yes,


s: Mine the fault, and be mine the repentance.  Not less,


s: In now owning this fault, Alfred, let me own, too,


s: I foresaw not the sorrow involved in it.


s: That meeting, which hath been so fatal, I sought,


s: I alone!  But oh! deem not it was with the thought


s: Of your heart to regain, or the past to rewaken.


s: No! believe me, it was with the firm and unshaken


s: Conviction, at least, that our meeting would be


s: Without peril to YOU, although haply to me


s: When the rumor first reach'd me, which lightly made known


s: To the world your engagement, my heart and my mind


s: Suffer'd torture intense.  It was cruel to find


s: That so much of the life of my life, half unknown


s: To myself, had been silently settled on one


s: Upon whom but to think it would soon be a crime.


s: Then I said to myself, 'From the thraldom which time


s: Hath not weaken'd there rests but one hope of escape.


s: That image which Fancy seems ever to shape


s: From the solitude left round the ruins of yore,


s: Is a phantom.  The Being I loved is no more.


s: What I hear in the silence, and see in the lone


s: Void of life, is the young hero born of my own


s: Perish'd youth: and his image, serene and sublime


s: In my heart rests unconscious of change and of time,


s: Could I see it but once more, as time and as change


s: Have made it, a thing unfamiliar and strange,


s: See, indeed, that the Being I loved in my youth


s: Is no more, and what rests now is only, in truth,


s: The hard pupil of life and the world: then, oh, then,


s: I should wake from a dream, and my life be again


s: Reconciled to the world; and, released from regret,


s: Take the lot fate accords to my choice.'


s: But the danger I did not foresee has occurr'd:


s: The danger, alas, to yourself!  I have err'd.


s: But happy for both that this error hath been


s: Discover'd as soon as the danger was seen!


s: We meet, Alfred Vargrave, no more.  I, indeed,


s: Shall be far from Luchon when this letter you read.


s: My course is decided; my path I discern:


s: O return to the young living love!  Whence, alas!


s: If, one moment, you wander'd, think only it was


s: Believe, Alfred Vargrave, that I, where I go


s: On my far distant pathway through life, shall rejoice


s: To treasure in memory all that your voice


s: Has avow'd to me, all in which others have clothed


s: To my fancy with beauty and worth your betrothed!


s: In the fair morning light, in the orient dew


s: Of that young life, now yours, can you fail to renew


s: All the noble and pure aspirations, the truth,


s: The freshness, the faith, of your own earnest youth?


s: Yes! YOU will be happy.  I, too, in the bliss


s: I foresee for you, I shall be happy.  And this


s: Proves me worthy your friendship.  And so--let it prove


s: That I cannot--I do not respond to your love.


s: Yes, indeed! be convinced that I could not (no, no,


s: Never, never!) have render'd you happy.  And so,


s: Rest assured that, if false to the vows you have plighted,


s: You would have endured, when the first brief, excited


s: But think! if the world was too much in your heart,


s: And too little in mine, when we parted ten years


s: Ere this last fatal meeting, that time (ay, and tears!)


s: Have but deepen'd the old demarcations which then


s: Placed our natures asunder; and we two again,


s: As we then were, would still have been strangely at strife.


s: In that self-independence which is to my life


s: Its necessity now, as it once was its pride,


s: Had our course through the world been henceforth side by side,


s: I should have revolted forever, and shock'd


s: Your respect for the world's plausibilities, mock'd,


s: Without meaning to do so, and outraged, all those


s: That I blame you.  Perhaps it is you that are right.


s: To the hope of a moment: no more!  If there fell


s: Any tear on this page, 'twas a friend's.


s: To the past--and to you, Alfred Vargrave.


s: Round and round in the mist that was scorching his eyes


s: With a fiery dew.  Grief, resentment, surprise,


s: Half chocked him; each word he had read, as it smote


s: Down some hope, rose and grasped like a hand at his throat,


s: For relief from himself, with a footstep unsteady,


s: He pass'd from his chamber.  He felt both oppress'd


s: And excited.  The letter he thrust in his breast,


s: And, in search of fresh air and of solitude, pass'd


s: The long lime-trees of Luchon.  His footsteps at last


s: Reach'd a bare narrow heath by the skirts of a wood:


s: It was sombre and silent, and suited his mood.


s: By a mineral spring, long unused, now unknown,


s: Stood a small ruin'd abbey.  He reach'd it, sat down


s: On a fragment of stone, 'mid the wild weed and thistle,


s: And read over again that perplexing epistle.


s: In re-reading that letter, there roll'd from his mind


s: The raw mist of resentment which first made him blind


s: To the pathos breath'd through it.  Tears rose in his eyes,


s: And a hope sweet and strange in his heart seem'd to rise.


s: The truth which he saw not the first time he read


s: That letter, he now saw--that each word betray'd


s: The love which the writer had sought to conceal.


s: His love was received not, he could not but feel,


s: For one reason alone,--that his love was not free.


s: True! free yet he was not: but could he not be


s: Free erelong, free as air to revoke that farewell,


s: And to sanction his own hopes? he had but to tell


s: The truth to Matilda, and she were the first


s: To release him: he had but to wait at the worst.


s: Matilda's relations would probably snatch


s: Any pretext, with pleasure, to break off a match


s: In which they had yielded, alone at the whim


s: Of their spoil'd child, a languid approval to him.


s: She herself, careless child! was her love for him aught


s: Save the first joyous fancy succeeding the thought


s: She last gave to her doll? was she able to feel


s: Such a love as the love he divined in Lucile?


s: He would seek her, obtain his release, and, oh! then


s: Claim the love which his heart would be free to command.


s: But to press on Lucile any claim to her hand,


s: He could say, "I am free! free, Lucile, to implore


s: That great blessing on life you alone can confer,"


s: 'Twere dishonor in him, 'twould be insult to her.


s: Thus still with the letter outspread on his knee


s: That he felt not the angry regard of a man


s: Fix'd upon him; he saw not a face stern and wan


s: Turn'd towards him; he heard not a footstep that pass'd


s: And repass'd the lone spot where he stood, till at last


s: On the bare heath before him, the Duc de Luvois.


s: With aggressive ironical tones, and a look


s: Of concentrated insolent challenge, the Duke


s: Address'd to Lord Alfred some sneering allusion


s: To "the doubtless sublime reveries his intrusion


s: Had, he fear'd, interrupted.  Milord would do better,


s: He fancied, however, to fold up a letter


s: The writing of which was too well known, in fact,


s: His remark as he pass'd to have failed to attract."


s: It was obvious to Alfred the Frenchman was bent


s: Upon picking a quarrel! and doubtless 'twas meant


s: From HIM to provoke it by sneers such as these.


s: A moment sufficed his quick instinct to seize


s: The position.  He felt that he could not expose


s: His own name, or Lucile's, or Matilda's, to those


s: Idle tongues that would bring down upon him the ban


s: Of the world, if he now were to fight with this man.


s: And indeed, when he look'd in the Duke's haggard face,


s: He was pain'd by the change there he could not but trace.


s: Each remark from the Duke with some careless reply,


s: And coldly, but courteously, waving away


s: The ill-humor the Duke seem'd resolved to display,


s: Rose, and turn'd, with a stern salutation, aside.


s: Then the Duke put himself in the path, made one stride


s: In advance, raised a hand, fix'd upon him his eyes,


s: "Hold, Lord Alfred!  Away with disguise!


s: I will own that I sought you, a moment ago,


s: To fix on you a quarrel.  I still can do so


s: To the hand of a woman, whatever be hers


s: Or her suitor's.  I love the Comtesse de Nevers.


s: I believed, ere you cross'd me, and still have the right


s: To believe, that she would have been mine.  To her sight


s: You return, and the woman is suddenly changed.


s: You step in between us: her heart is estranged.


s: You! who now are betrothed to another, I know:


s: You! whose name with Lucile's nearly ten years ago


s: Was coupled by ties which you broke: you! the man


s: I reproach'd on the day our acquaintance began.


s: You! that left her so lightly,--I cannot believe


s: That you love, as I love, her; nor can I conceive


s: You, indeed, have the right so to love her.


s: I will not thus tamely concede at your word,


s: What, a few days ago, I believed to be mine!


s: I shall yet persevere: I shall yet be, in fine,


s: A rival you dare not despise.  It is plain


s: That to settle this contest there can but remain


s: With regretful respect for the earnestness proved


s: By the speech he had heard, Alfred Vargrave replied


s: In words which he trusted might yet turn aside


s: The quarrel from which he felt bound to abstain,


s: And, with stately urbanity, strove to explain


s: To the Duke that he too (a fair rival at worst!)


s: "Ah, you dare not reply!" cried the Duke.  "Why dispute,


s: Why palter with me?  You are silent! and why?


s: Because, in your conscience, you cannot deny


s: 'Twas from vanity, wanton and cruel withal,


s: And the wish an ascendancy lost to recall,


s: That you stepp'd in between me and her.  If, milord,


s: You be really sincere, I ask only one word.


s: Say at once you renounce her.  At once, on my part,


s: I will ask your forgiveness with all truth of heart,


s: And there CAN be no quarrel between us.  Say on!"


s: Lord Alfred grew gall'd and impatient.  This tone


s: Roused a strong irritation he could not repress.


s: "You have not the right, sir," he said, "and still less


s: The power, to make terms and conditions with me.


s: Fates they cannot avert in some figure occult,


s: 'Mid the ruins and tombs of a long-perish'd race,


s: With, for witness, the stern Autumn Sky overhead,


s: And beneath them, unnoticed, the graves, and the dead,


s: Those two men had met, as it were on the ridge


s: Of that perilous, narrow, invisible bridge


s: Dividing the Past from the Future, so small


s: That if one should pass over, the other must fall.


s: On the ear, at that moment, the sound of a hoof,


s: Urged with speed, sharply smote; and from under the roof


s: Of the forest in view, where the skirts of it verged


s: On the heath where they stood, at full gallop emerged


s: Of red silk round the waist, and the long leathern lash


s: With a short wooden handle, slung crosswise behind


s: The short jacket; the loose canvas trouser, confined


s: By the long boots; the woollen capote; and the rein,


s: He wheel'd his horse, white with the foam on his flank,


s: Leap'd the rivulet lightly, turn'd sharp from the bank,


s: And, approaching the Duke, raised his woollen capote,


s: Bow'd low in the selle, and deliver'd a note.


s: The two stood astonish'd.  The Duke, with a gest


s: Of apology, turnd, stretch'd his hand, and possess'd


s: Himself of the letter, changed color, and tore


s: His whole aspect changed.  A light rose to his eyes,


s: And a smile to his lips.  While with startled surprise


s: Lord Alfred yet watch'd him, he turn'd on his heel,


s: And said gayly, "A pressing request from Lucile!


s: You are quite right, Lord Alfred! fair rivals at worst,


s: Our relative place may perchance be reversed.


s: You are not accepted,--nor free to propose!


s: I, perchance, am accepted already; who knows?


s: I had warned you, milord, I should still persevere.


s: This letter--but stay! you can read it--look here!"


s: It was now Alfred's turn to feel roused and enraged.


s: But Lucile to himself was not pledged or engaged


s: By aught that could sanction resentment.  He said


s: Not a word, but turn'd round, took the letter, and read...


s: "Your letter, which follow'd me here, makes me stay


s: Till I see you again.  With no moment's delay


s: I entreat, I conjure you, by all that you feel


s: "Your letter!"  He then had been writing to her!


s: Coldly shrugging his shoulders, Lord Alfred said, "Sir,


s: Placed the note in his bosom; address'd, half aloud,


s: A few words to the messenger,... "Say your despatch


s: Will be answer'd ere nightfall;" then glanced at his watch,


s: Torn, distracted in heart, and divided in will.


s: He turn'd to Lucile's farewell letter to him.


s: And read over her words; rising tears made them dim:


s: "Doubt is over; my future is fix'd now," they said.


s: "My course is decided."  Her course? what! to wed


s: With this insolent rival!  With that thought there shot


s: Through his heart an acute jealous anguish.  But not


s: Even thus could his clear worldly sense quite excuse


s: Those strange words to the Duke.  She was free to refuse


s: Himself, free the Duke to accept, it was true:


s: Even then, though, this eager and strange rendezvous,


s: How imprudent!  To some unfrequented lone inn,


s: And so late (for the night was about to begin)--


s: She, companionless there!--had she bidden that man?


s: A fear, vague, and formless, and horrible, ran


s: Riding fast through the forest, the Duc de Luvois,


s: Who waved his hand to him, and sped out of sight.


s: The day was descending.  He felt 'twould be night


s: Back toward Luchon: he walk'd on, but knew not in what


s: Direction, nor yet with what object, indeed,


s: He was walking, but still he walk'd on without heed.


s: The day had been sullen; but, towards his decline,


s: The sun sent a stream of wild light up the pine.


s: Darkly denting the red light reveal'd at its back,


s: The old ruin'd abbey rose roofless and black.


s: The spring that yet oozed through the moss-paven floor


s: Had suggested, no doubt, to the monks there, of yore,


s: The sight of that refuge where back to its God


s: How many a heart, now at rest 'neath the sod,


s: Had borne from the world all the same wild unrest


s: He traversed the scant heath, and reach'd the forlorn


s: Autumn woodland, in which but a short while ago


s: He had seen the Duke rapidly enter; and so


s: He too enter'd.  The light waned around him, and pass'd


s: Into darkness.  The wrathful, red Occident cast


s: As the last light of day from the high wood declined,


s: And the great forest sigh'd its farewell to the beam,


s: And far off on the stillness the voice of the stream


s: And how light is thy heart, and how friendless thy grace!


s: Thou false mistress of man! thou dost sport with him lightly


s: In his hours of ease and enjoyment; and brightly


s: Dost thou smile to his smile; to his joys thou inclinest,


s: But his sorrows, thou knowest them not, nor divinest.


s: While he woos, thou art wanton; thou lettest him love thee;


s: But thou art not his friend, for his grief cannot move thee;


s: And at last, when he sickens and dies, what dost thou?


s: All as gay are thy garments, as careless thy brow,


s: And thou laughest and toyest with any new comer,


s: Not a tear more for winter, a smile less for summer!


s: Hast thou never an anguish to heave the heart under


s: That fair breast of thine, O thou feminine wonder!


s: For all those--the young, and the fair, and the strong,


s: Who have loved thee, and lived with thee gayly and long,


s: And who now on thy bosom lie dead? and their deeds


s: And their days are forgotten!  O hast thou no weeds


s: And not one year of mourning,--one out of the many


s: That deck thy new bridals forever,--nor any


s: Regrets for thy lost loves, conceal'd from the new,


s: O thou widow of earth's generations?  Go to!


s: If the sea and the night wind know aught of these things,


s: They do not reveal it.  We are not thy kings.


s: "The huntsman has ridden too far on the chase,


s: And eldrich, and eerie, and strange is the place!


s: The castle betokens a date long gone by.


s: He crosses the courtyard with curious eye:


s: He wanders from chamber to chamber, and yet


s: From strangeness to strangeness his footsteps are set;


s: And the whole place grows wilder and wilder, and less


s: Like aught seen before.  Each in obsolete dress,


s: Strange portraits regard him with looks of surprise,


s: Strange forms from the arras start forth to his eyes;


s: Strange epigraphs, blazon'd, burn out of the wall:


s: In her chamber, enchanted, the Princess is sleeping


s: The sleep which for centuries she has been keeping.


s: If she smile in her sleep, it must be to some lover


s: Whose lost golden locks the long grasses now cover:


s: If she moan in her dream, it must be to deplore


s: Some grief which the world cares to hear of no more.


s: But how fair is her forehead, how calm seems her cheek!


s: And how sweet must that voice be, if once she would speak!


s: He looks and he loves her; but knows he (not he!)


s: And he stoops to those shut lips.  The shapes on the wall,


s: The mute men in armor around him, and all


s: The weird figures frown, as though striving to say,


s: 'Halt! invade not the Past, reckless child of Today!


s: And give not, O madman! the heart in thy breast


s: To a phantom, the soul of whose sense is possess'd


s: And he heeds not the warning, he cares not to see


s: And the vision is vanish'd from sight evermore!


s: And the gray morning sees, as it drearily moves


s: O'er a land long deserted, a madman that roves


s: Through a ruin, and seeks to recapture a dream.


s: Lost to life and its uses, withdrawn from the scheme


s: Of man's waking existence, he wanders apart."


s: And this is an old fairy-tale of the heart.


s: It is told in all lands, in a different tongue;


s: Told with tears by the old, heard with smiles by the young.


s: And the tale to each heart unto which it is known


s: Has a different sense.  It has puzzled my own.


s: From strong physical health, and that vigor of heart


s: Which physical health gives, and partly, perchance,


s: From a generous vanity native to France,


s: With the heart of a hunter, whatever the quarry,


s: Pursued it, too hotly impatient to tarry


s: Or turn, till he took it.  His trophies were trifles:


s: But trifler he was not.  When rose-leaves it rifles,


s: No less than when oak-trees it ruins, the wind


s: Its pleasure pursues with impetuous mind.


s: Both Eugene de Luvois and Lord Alfred had been


s: Men of pleasure: but men's pleasant vices, which, seen


s: Floating faint in the sunshine of Alfred's soft mood,


s: Seem'd amiable foibles, by Luvois pursued


s: With impetuous passion, seemed semi-Satanic.


s: Half pleased you see brooks play with pebbles; in panic


s: You watch them whirl'd down by the torrent.


s: To the sacred political creed of his youth


s: To degenerate protest on all things was sunk;


s: Its principles each to a prejudice shrunk.


s: Down the path of a life that led nowhere he trod,


s: Where his whims were his guides, and his will was his god,


s: Of inherited wealth, he had learned to invest


s: Both his wealth and those passions wealth frees from the cage


s: Which penury locks, in each vice of an age


s: All the virtues of which, by the creed he revered,


s: To the world what the world chose to have him appear,--


s: Reformer in coats, cards, and carriages!  Still


s: 'Twas the vigor of nature, and tension of will,


s: That found for the first time--perhaps for the last--


s: In Lucile what they lacked yet to free from the Past,


s: To the anguish of losing the woman was join'd


s: The terror of missing his life's destination,


s: Which in her had its mystical representation.


s: And truly, the thought of it, scaring him, pass'd


s: O'er his heart, while he now through the twilight rode fast


s: As a shade from the wing of some great bird obscene


s: In a wide silent land may be suddenly seen,


s: Darkening over the sands, where it startles and scares


s: Some traveller stray'd in the waste unawares,


s: So that thought more than once darken'd over his heart


s: For a moment, and rapidly seem'd to depart.


s: Fast and furious he rode through the thickets which rose


s: Up the shaggy hillside: and the quarrelling crows


s: Clang'd above him, and clustering down the dim air


s: Dropp'd into the dark woods.  By fits here and there


s: Shepherd fires faintly gleam'd from the valleys.  Oh, how


s: He envied the wings of each wild bird, as now


s: He urged the steed over the dizzy ascent


s: Of the mountain!  Behind him a murmur was sent


s: From the torrent--before him a sound from the tracts


s: Of the woodlands that waved o'er the wild cataracts,


s: And the loose earth and loose stones roll'd momently down


s: From the hoofs of his steed to abysses unknown.


s: The red day had fallen beneath the black woods,


s: And the Powers of the night through the vast solitudes


s: Walk'd abroad and conversed with each other.  The trees


s: Were in sound and in motion, and mutter'd like seas


s: In Elfland.  The road through the forest was hollow'd.


s: On he sped through the darkness, as though he were follow'd


s: Of the forest at last open'd sharp, o'er the fork


s: Of a savage ravine, and behind the black stems


s: Of the last trees, whose leaves in the light gleam'd like gems,


s: Broke the broad moon above the voluminous


s: Rock-chaos,--the Hecate of that Tartarus!


s: With his horse reeking white, he at last reach'd the door


s: Of a small mountain inn, on the brow of a hoar


s: Craggy promontory, o'er a fissure as grim,


s: Through which, ever roaring, there leap'd o'er the limb


s: Of the rent rock a torrent of water, from sight,


s: Into pools that were feeding the roots of the night.


s: In a glimmering casement a shade seem'd to move.


s: At the door the old negress was nodding her head


s: As he reach'd it.  "My mistress awaits you," she said.


s: And up the rude stairway of creeking pine rafter


s: He follow'd her silent.  A few moments after,


s: His heart almost stunned him, his head seem'd to reel,


s: For a door closed--Luvois was alone with Lucile.


s: In a gray travelling dress, her dark hair unconfined


s: Streaming o'er it, and tossed now and then by the wind


s: From the lattice, that waved the dull flame in a spire


s: From a brass lamp before her--a faint hectic fire


s: On her cheek, to her eyes lent the lustre of fever:


s: They seem'd to have wept themselves wider than ever,


s: And your plans have been changed by the letter I sent?"


s: There his voice sank, borne down by a strong inward strife.


s: Your letter! yes, Duke.  For it threaten'd man's life--


s: At your own words; blush, son of the knighthood of France,


s: As I read them!  You say, in this letter...


s: Why now you refuse me: 'tis (is it not so?)


s: For the man who has trifled before, wantonly,


s: And now trifles again with the heart you deny


s: To myself.  But he shall not!  By man's last wild law,


s: I will seize on the right (the right, Duc de Luvois!)


s: To avenge for you, woman, the past, and to give


s: To the future its freedom.  That man shalt not live


s: To make you as wretched as you have made me!"


s: Well, madam, in those words what words do you see


s: What word, do you ask?  Every word! would you not,


s: Had I taken your hand thus, have felt that your name


s: Was soil'd and dishonor'd by more than mere shame


s: If the woman that bore it had first been the cause


s: Of the crime which in these words is menaced?  You pause!


s: Woman's honor, you ask?  Is there, sir, no dishonor


s: In the smile of a woman, when men, gazing on her,


s: Can shudder, and say, "In that smile is a grave"?


s: No! you can have no cause, Duke, for no right you have


s: In the contest you menace.  That contest but draws


s: Every right into ruin.  By all human laws


s: Of man's heart I forbid it, by all sanctities


s: "I obey you," he said, "but let woman beware


s: How she plays fast and loose thus with human despair,


s: And the storm in man's heart.  Madam, yours was the right,


s: When you saw that I hoped, to extinguish hope quite.


s: But you should from the first have done this, for I feel


s: That you knew from the first that I loved you."


s: A slow, wistful regard to his features, and gazed


s: On them silent awhile.  His own looks were downcast.


s: Through her heart, whence its first wild alarm was now pass'd,


s: Pity crept, and perhaps o'er her conscience a tear,


s: Were they unjust, these sudden upbraidings, to her?


s: Had she lightly misconstrued this man's character,


s: Which had seem'd, even when most impassion'd it seem'd,


s: Too self-conscious to lose all in love?  Had she deem'd


s: That this airy, gay, insolent man of the world,


s: So proud of the place the world gave him, held furl'd


s: In his bosom no passion which once shaken wide


s: Might tug, till it snapped, that erect lofty pride?


s: Were those elements in him, which once roused to strife


s: Overthrow a whole nature, and change a whole life?


s: There are two kinds of strength.  One, the strength of the river


s: Which through continents pushes its pathway forever


s: To fling its fond heart in the sea; if it lose