s: Two letters half rubbed out were there, and round


s: And tossed a spray of roses to the clamp.


s: "G. D." the young man gravely said.  "My name


s: Is Gervase Deane.  Your servant, if you please."


s: "Oh, Sir, indeed I know you, for your fame


s: For exploits in the field has reached my ears.


s: I did not know you wounded and returned."


s: "But just come back, Madam.  A silly prick


s: Must be Sir Everard's lady.  And my fears


s: At being caught a-trespassing were quick."


s: He looked so rueful that she laughed out loud.


s: "You are forgiven, Mr. Deane.  Even more,


s: That you should find it pleasant from this shore.


s: He loved the spotted trout, and pike, and dace.


s: That flies my fingers tied swiftly confused


s: The greater fish.  And he must be excused,


s: Love weaves odd fancies in a lonely place."


s: She sighed because it seemed so long ago,


s: Those days with Everard; unthinking took


s: The path back to the orchard.  Strolling so


s: She walked, and he beside her.  In a nook


s: Where a stone seat withdrew beneath low boughs,


s: Full-blossomed, hummed with bees, they sat them down.


s: She questioned him about the war, the share


s: Eager by his clear answers, straight allows


s: Her hidden hopes and fears to speak, and rouse


s: Her numbed love, which had slumbered unaware.


s: Under the orchard trees daffodils danced


s: And jostled, turning sideways to the wind.


s: At the far end through twisted cherry-trees


s: The old house glowed, geranium-hued, with bricks


s: Bloomed in the sun like roses, low and long,


s: Of chimneys carved and fretted.  Out of these


s: Grey smoke was shaken, which the faint Spring breeze


s: Tossed into nothing.  Then a thrush's song


s: Needled its way through sound of bees and river.


s: The notes fell, round and starred, between young leaves,


s: Trilled to a spiral lilt, stopped on a quiver.


s: Gervase has many tales of her dear Lord,


s: His bravery, his knowledge, his charmed life.


s: She quite forgets who's speaking in the gladness


s: Gervase is wounded, grave indeed, the word


s: She strings her voice to ask with wistful sadness,


s: "And is Sir Everard still unscathed?  I fain


s: Would know the truth."  "Quite well, dear Lady, quite."


s: She smiled in her content.  "So many slain,


s: You must forgive me for a little fright."


s: But because she was fingering his heart,


s: Pressing and squeezing it, and thinking so


s: Their feet the river swirled and chucked.  They sat


s: An hour there.  The thrush flew to and fro.


s: In the oak-panelled parlour, whose array


s: Of faded portraits in carved mouldings shone.


s: Warriors and ladies, armoured, ruffed, peruked.


s: And heavy-featured; and one Rubens dame,


s: With flaunting, crimson flesh.  Eunice rebuked


s: Her thoughts of gentler blood, when these had duked


s: It with the best, and scorned to change their name.


s: Much older than her own, the Earls of Crowe.


s: Since Saxon days, these men had sought their brides


s: Taking them to themselves, their wealth, their lands,


s: But never their titles.  Stern perhaps, but strong,


s: The Framptons fed their blood from richest streams,


s: The toughness of the web wrought from such strands


s: And pride of Everard colours all her dreams.


s: Eunice forgets to eat, watching their faces


s: Flickering in the wind-blown candle's shine.


s: Blue-coated lackeys tiptoe to their places,


s: And set out plates of fruit and jugs of wine.


s: The table glitters black like Winter ice.


s: The Dartle's rushing, and the gentle clash


s: Of blossomed branches, drifts into her ears.


s: She sees each cherry stem a pointed slice


s: Of splintered moonlight, topped with all the spice


s: "In such a night--" she laid the book aside,


s: She could outnight the poet by thinking back.


s: In such a night she came here as a bride.


s: Of her clasped memory.  In this very room


s: Had Everard uncloaked her.  On this seat


s: Had drawn her to him, bade her note the trees,


s: And later, coming to her, her dear groom,


s: Her Lord, had lain beside her in the gloom


s: Of moon and shade, and whispered her to ease.


s: Her little taper made the room seem vast,


s: Caverned and empty.  And her beating heart


s: Rapped through the silence all about her cast


s: Like some loud, dreadful death-watch taking part


s: Put out the light and crept into her bed.


s: The linen sheets were fragrant, but so cold.


s: Sobbing and quivering in her barren nest,


s: Her eyes sealed fast within its smothering fold.


s: The morning brought her a more stoic mind,


s: And sunshine struck across the polished floor.


s: She wondered whether this day she should find


s: Until she came.  They fished awhile, then went


s: The cherry's shade.  He pleased her very well


s: By his discourse.  But ever he must dwell


s: Must be related and each term explained.


s: How troops were set in battle, how a siege


s: Was ordered and conducted.  She complained


s: Because he bungled at the fall of Liege.


s: The curious names of parts of forts she knew,


s: And aired with conscious pride her ravelins,


s: And counterscarps, and lunes.  The day drew on,


s: In the hot sunshine turned a mauve-green hue.


s: At last Gervase, guessing the hour, withdrew.


s: Then he would bring her books, and read to her


s: The poems of Dr. Donne, and the blue river


s: Would murmur through the reading, and a stir


s: Of birds and bees make the white petals shiver,


s: And one or two would flutter prone and lie


s: Spotting the smooth-clipped grass.  The days went by


s: Threaded with talk and verses.  Green leaves pushed


s: Fell into strong and watchful loving, free


s: He thought, since always would his lips be hushed.


s: And Gervase strove in vain to order his.


s: That he but read himself aloud, for this


s: Their friendship would have snapped.  She treated him


s: And spoilt him like a brother.  It was now


s: "Gervase" and "Eunice" with them, and he dined


s: Old pictured Framptons, opposite her slim


s: Figure, so bright against the chair behind.


s: For many days, and yet the hours were long.


s: All Gervase told to her but made her lean


s: Her hopes she lived, even when she was giving


s: Her morning orders, even when she twined


s: Nosegays to deck her parlours.  With the thought


s: Solaced its solitude, and in her striving


s: To do as he would wish was all her living.


s: She welcomed Gervase for the news he brought.


s: Black-hearts and white-hearts, bubbled with the sun,


s: Hid in their leaves and knocked against each other.


s: Eunice was standing, panting with her run


s: Up to the tool-house just to get another


s: Basket.  All those which she had brought were filled,


s: And still Gervase pelted her from above.


s: The buckles of his shoes flashed higher and higher


s: Quite through the top.  "Eunice, your spirit's filled


s: This tree.  White-hearts!"  He shook, and cherries spilled


s: And spat out from the leaves like falling fire.


s: The wide, sun-winged June morning spread itself


s: Full twenty baskets with the fruit.  "My shelf


s: Of cordials will be stored with what it lacked.


s: In future, none of us will drink strong ale,


s: But cherry-brandy."  "Vastly good, I vow,"


s: And Gervase gave the tree another shake.


s: Out of the sky in cloudfuls, like blown hail.


s: She gave a little cry and fell quite prone


s: In the long grass, and lay there very still.


s: Gervase leapt from the tree at her soft moan,


s: And kneeling over her, with clumsy skill


s: Unloosed her bodice, fanned her with his hat,


s: And his unguarded lips pronounced his heart.


s: "Eunice, my Dearest Girl, where are you hurt?"


s: Over her limbs seeking some wound.  She strove


s: Her eyelids fell again at that sweet sight,


s: "My Love!" she murmured, "Dearest!  Oh, my Dear!"


s: He took her in his arms and bore her right


s: I have you mine at last," she said, and swooned


s: Under his kisses.  When she came once more


s: To sight of him, she smiled in comfort knowing


s: Close covered on his breast.  And all her glowing


s: Youth answered him, and ever nearer growing


s: She twined him in her arms and soft festooned


s: Herself about him like a flowering vine,


s: A ray of sunlight pierced the leaves to shine


s: Where her half-opened bodice let be shown


s: Her white throat fluttering to his soft caress,


s: Half-gasping with her gladness.  And her pledge


s: She whispers, melting with delight.  A twig


s: A cackling laugh tears through the quietness.


s: "My God!  What's that?"  Her staring eyes are big.


s: As though she had an ague.  Gervase swore,


s: Jumped to his feet in such a dreadful taking


s: His face was ghastly with the look it wore.


s: Crouching and slipping through the trees, a man


s: In worn, blue livery, a humpbacked thing,


s: Made off.  But turned every few steps to gaze


s: Vile looks and gestures back.  "The ruffian!


s: By Christ's Death!  I will split him to a span


s: Of hog's thongs."  She grasped at his sleeve, "Gervase!


s: What are you doing here?  Put down that sword,


s: That's only poor old Tony, crazed and lame.


s: I ought not to have minded that he came.


s: Should so lack grace to stay here."  With one hand


s: Returned, will hardly care for guests.  Adieu."


s: "Eunice, you're mad."  His brain began to reel.


s: He tried again to take her, tried to twist


s: Her arms about him.  Truly, she had said


s: Nothing should ever part them.  In a mist


s: She pushed him from her, clasped her aching head


s: In both her hands, and rocked and sobbed aloud.


s: "Oh!  Where is Everard?  What does this mean?


s: Sir Everard.  Then, gently, to her bowed


s: And sickening spirit, he told of her proud


s: Surrender to him.  He could hear her moan.


s: Then shame swept over her and held her numb,


s: Hiding her anguished face against the seat.


s: And trailed away with slowly-dragging feet.


s: Gervase looked after her, but feared to pass


s: The barrier set between them.  All his rare


s: Joy broke to fragments--worse than that, unreal.


s: His swollen heart burst out, and on the grass


s: He flung himself and wept.  He knew, alas!


s: The loss so great his life could never heal.


s: For days thereafter Eunice lived retired,


s: She would not leave her chamber, and desired


s: Of what her eyes might trick her into seeing,


s: Of what her longing urge her then to do.


s: Her hours went by in a long constant fleeing


s: The thought of that one morning.  And her being


s: It grew ripe Summer, when one morning came


s: Upon the seal were the Deane crest and name.


s: With utmost gentleness, the letter hinted


s: To pay her his profound respects?  No word


s: Back the old comradeship.  Her eyes were wet


s: With starting tears, now truly she deplored


s: 'Twas she--she shuddered and began to weep.


s: 'Twas her fault!  Hers!  Her everlasting shame


s: Was that she suffered him, whom not at all


s: She loved.  Poor Boy!  Yes, they must still be friends.


s: She owed him that to keep the balance straight.


s: Which she could make for rousing hopes to gall


s: It was, and she must leave him desolate.


s: Hard silence he had forced upon his lips


s: For long and long, and would have done so still


s: Had not she--here she pressed her finger tips


s: Against her heavy eyes.  Then with forced will


s: She wrote that he might come, sealed with the arms


s: Of Crowe and Frampton twined.  Her heart felt lighter


s: When this was done.  It seemed her constant care


s: Illness could be no crime, and dreadful harms


s: Did come from too much sunshine.  Her alarms


s: Would lessen when she saw him standing there,


s: Simple and kind, a brother just returned


s: From journeying, and he would treat her so.


s: She knew his honest heart, and if there burned


s: But when he really came, and stood beside


s: Her underneath the fruitless cherry boughs,


s: He seemed a tired man, gaunt, leaden-eyed.


s: Nor did he mention one thing he had tried


s: Him topics.  And his mind seemed occupied.


s: Daily they met.  And gravely walked and talked.


s: He read her no more verses, and he stayed


s: Of every natural channel, fled dismayed.


s: Again the next day she would meet him, trying


s: To give her tone some healthy sprightliness,


s: Thus Summer waned, and in the mornings, crying


s: Of wild geese startled Eunice, and their flying


s: Whirred overhead for days and never stilled.


s: One afternoon of grey clouds and white wind,


s: The Dartle splashed among the reeds and whined


s: Over the willow-roots, and a long sliver


s: Of caked and slobbered foam crept up the bank.


s: All through the garden, drifts of skirling leaves


s: Blew up, and settled down, and blew again.


s: Mist hid the house, mouldy it smelt and rank


s: With sodden wood, and still unfalling rain.


s: Eunice paced up and down.  No joy she took


s: At meeting Gervase, but the custom grown


s: Still held her.  He was late.  She sudden shook,


s: And caught at her stopped heart.  Her eyes had shown


s: His uniform was travel-stained and torn,


s: His jackboots muddy, and his eager stride


s: Entangled, trailed behind him.  To the tryst


s: He hastened.  Eunice shuddered, ran--a twist


s: Round a sharp turning and she fled to hide.


s: A flash of white against the river's grey.


s: "Eunice," he called.  "My Darling.  Eunice.  Can


s: To reach you sooner.  Are you startled, Dear?"


s: Cowering and trembling as though she some evil


s: Spirit were seeing.  "What means this uncivil


s: Greeting, Dear Heart?"  He saw her senses blur.


s: Swaying and catching at the seat, she tried


s: To speak, but only gurgled in her throat.


s: At last, straining to hold herself, she cried


s: To him for pity, and her strange words smote


s: A coldness through him, for she begged Gervase


s: To leave her, 'twas too much a second time.


s: Gervase must go, always Gervase, her mind


s: This name he did not know.  In sad amaze


s: He watched her, and that hunted, fearful gaze,


s: With what he feared her madness.  By and by


s: He pierced her understanding.  Then he knelt


s: Upon the seat, and took her hands:  "Now try


s: Unharmed and back on furlough.  Are you glad


s: A greater pleasantness.  Could you not bear


s: A stone between us surely should not be."


s: She smiled a little wan and ravelled smile,


s: Then came to him and on his shoulder laid


s: Her head, and they two rested there awhile,


s: Each taking comfort.  Not a word was said.


s: But when he put his hand upon her breast


s: And felt her beating heart, and with his lips


s: Sought solace for her and himself.  She started


s: Denied and shuddered from.  And he, distrest,


s: Loosened his wife, and long they sat there, parted.


s: A little dazed, and yet she seemed content.


s: At candle-time, he asked if she would play


s: And tinkled airs from Lully's 'Carnival'


s: And 'Bacchus', newly brought away from France.


s: He whispered her that if she had forgiven


s: His startling her that afternoon, the clock


s: Marked early bed-time.  Surely it was Heaven


s: He entered when she opened to his knock.


s: Over the chimney.  Close they lay and knew


s: Only that they were wedded.  At his touch


s: After her husband slept.  She gazed with joy


s: Into the shadows, painting them with bright


s: Pictures of all her future life's employ.


s: Each shining with the other.  Soft she turned


s: And felt his breath upon her hair, and prayed


s: Past Earls of Crowe should give their blood for fuel


s: To light this Frampton's hearth-fire.  By no cruel


s: Affrightings would she ever be dismayed.


s: When Everard, next day, asked her in joke


s: What name it was that she had called him by,


s: She told him of Gervase, and as she spoke


s: The fondness into which she had been led.


s: Sir Everard just laughed and pinched her ear,


s: The matter drifted.  Then Sir Everard chid


s: To see his men and count his farming-gear.


s: At supper he seemed overspread with gloom,


s: More questions of Gervase, and round the room


s: He walked with restless strides.  At last he tasked


s: Than she had given.  Eunice quick denied


s: The slightest interest other than a friend


s: To work at, draining swamps at Pickthorn End.


s: Next morning Eunice found her Lord still changed,


s: Hard and unkind, with bursts of anger.  Pride


s: Kept him from speaking out.  His probings ranged


s: All round his torment.  Lady Eunice tried


s: To sooth him.  So a week went by, and then


s: His anguish flooded over; with clenched hands


s: Striving to stem his words, he told her plain


s: Burning in Hell," the man had said.  Again


s: Eunice described her vision, and how when


s: Awoke at last she had known dreadful pain.


s: To Gervase he forbade the house, and led


s: At his approaching footsteps.  Winter came


s: Snowing and blustering through the Manor trees.


s: Kept herself sighing company.  The flame


s: Of the birch fire glittered on the walls.


s: Unsealed, unsigned.  It told her that his wound,


s: The writer's, had so well recovered that


s: But would she not wish him one short "Godspeed",


s: He asked no more.  Her greeting would suffice.


s: Make for a dying man?  How could she read


s: The rest!  But forcing her eyes to the deed,


s: She read.  Then dropped it in the fire to burn.


s: Gervase had set the river for their meeting


s: As farthest from the farms where Everard


s: Spent all his days.  How should he know such cheating


s: Was Everard Frampton.  Hours by hours he hid


s: Among the willows watching.  Dusk had come,


s: And from the Manor he had long been gone.


s: Task set about.  Hooded and cloaked, she slid


s: Gervase arose, and kissed her hand, then pointed


s: Into the boat.  She shook her head, but he


s: Begged her to realize why, and with disjointed


s: Words told her of what peril there might be


s: A push would take them out of earshot.  Ten


s: Minutes was all he asked, then she should land,


s: Forever this time.  Yet how could he thank


s: Her for so much compassion.  Here she sank


s: Upon a thwart, and bid him quick unstrand


s: His boat.  He cast the rope, and shoved the keel


s: Free of the gravel; jumped, and dropped beside


s: Her; took the oars, and they began to steal


s: Gash of red lantern-light cleft like a blade


s: Into the gloom, and struck on Eunice sitting


s: In merciless light.  A moment so it stayed,


s: Then was extinguished, and Sir Everard made


s: One leap, and landed just a fraction short.


s: His weight upon the gunwale tipped the boat


s: To straining balance.  Everard lurched and seized


s: His wife and held her smothered to his coat.


s: "Everard, loose me, we shall drown--" and squeezed


s: Against him, she beat with her hands.  He gasped


s: "Never, by God!"  The slidden boat gave way


s: And the black foamy water split--and met.


s: A wailing rose and in the branches rasped,


s: And creaked, and stilled.  Over the treetops, clasped


s: In the blue evening, a clear moon was set.


s: They lie entangled in the twisting roots,


s: Embraced forever.  Their cold marriage bed


s: Close-canopied and curtained by the shoots


s: Of willows and pale birches.  At the head,


s: White lilies, like still swans, placidly float


s: And sway above the pebbles.  Here are waves


s: In the green, rippled twilight.  Death has smote


s: Them to perpetual oneness who were twain.


s: Frau Concert-Meister Altgelt shut the door.


s: Swirled through the trees, and scattered leaves before


s: Her on the clean, flagged path.  The sky behind


s: The distant town was black, and sharp defined


s: Against it shone the lines of roofs and towers,


s: Superimposed and flat like cardboard flowers.


s: Picked out with luminous paint, it seemed.  The cloud


s: Split on an edge of lightning, and a sound


s: Of rivers full and rushing boomed through bowed,


s: Tossed, hissing branches.  Thunder rumbled loud


s: Beyond the town fast swallowing into gloom.


s: Frau Altgelt closed the windows of each room.


s: She bustled round to shake by constant moving


s: The strange, weird atmosphere.  She stirred the fire,


s: She twitched the supper-cloth as though improving


s: Its careful setting, then her own attire


s: Came in for notice, tiptoeing higher and higher


s: She peered into the wall-glass, now adjusting


s: A straying lock, or else a ribbon thrusting


s: This way or that to suit her.  At last sitting,


s: She took her work, the stocking she was knitting,


s: And watched the rain upon the window glare


s: In white, bright drops.  Through the black glass a flare


s: Of lightning squirmed about her needles.  "Oh!"


s: She cried.  "What can be keeping Theodore so!"


s: A roll of thunder set the casements clapping.


s: Frau Altgelt flung her work aside and ran,


s: Pulled open the house door, with kerchief flapping


s: She stood and gazed along the street.  A man


s: Flung back the garden-gate and nearly ran


s: Her down as she stood in the door.  "Why, Dear,


s: What in the name of patience brings you here?


s: I fear is wetted.  Now, Dear, bring a light.


s: This clasp is very much too worn and thin.


s: If it still rains.  Tut! Tut! my child, you're quite


s: Clumsy.  Here, help me, hold the case while I--


s: Give me the candle.  No, the inside's dry.


s: Thank God for that!  Well, Lotta, how are you?


s: A bad storm, but the house still stands, I see.


s: Is my pipe filled, my Dear?  I'll have a few


s: What do you say?  That you were feared for me?


s: Nonsense, my child.  Yes, kiss me, now don't talk.


s: I need a rest, the theatre's a long walk."


s: Her needles still, her hands upon her lap


s: And watched the rain-run window.  In his nap


s: Her husband stirred and muttered.  Seeing that,


s: Climbed up the stairs, and in her little room


s: Found sighing comfort with a moon in bloom.


s: By a new-burst, storm-whetted moon, may give


s: Was hard for young Charlotta so to strive


s: And down her eagerness and learn to live


s: In placid quiet.  While her husband slept,


s: Had kept him back.  He played as few men can,


s: So shimmering-sweet and palpitant, it shone


s: Like a bright thread of sound hung in the air,


s: Afloat and swinging upward, slim and fair.


s: Above all things, above Charlotta his wife,


s: When this was fashioned.  Of soft-cutting pine


s: The belly was.  The back of broadly curled


s: Maple, the head made thick and sharply whirled.


s: The slanting, youthful sound-holes through


s: Lustered like glass that's long laid down


s: Purfled stoutly, with mitres which point


s: Straight up the corners.  Each curve and joint


s: With his best violin, the rain being stopped,


s: Watching the embers which the fire dropped.


s: The china shone upon the dresser, topped


s: By polished copper vessels which her skill


s: Kept brightly burnished.  It was very still.


s: The night's performance.  Charlotta had plead


s: With him to stay with her.  Even at the door


s: She'd begged him not to go.  "I do implore


s: You for this evening, Theodore," she had said.


s: "Leave them to-night, and stay with me instead."


s: "A silly poppet!"  Theodore pinched her ear.


s: "You'd like to have our good Elector turn


s: Me out I think."  "But, Theodore, something queer


s: Ails me.  Oh, do but notice how they burn,


s: My cheeks!  The thunder worried me.  You're stern,


s: And cold, and only love your work, I know.


s: But Theodore, for this evening, do not go."


s: For she had kept him talking.  Now she sat


s: Of all her thinking brought her back to that


s: She wished to banish.  What would life be?  What?


s: For she was young, and loved, while he was moved


s: Only by music.  Each day that was proved.


s: Each day he rose and practised.  While he played,


s: She stopped her work and listened, and her heart


s: Swelled painfully beneath her bodice.  Swayed


s: And longing, she would hide from him her smart.


s: "Well, Lottchen, will that do?"  Then what a start


s: She gave, and she would run to him and cry,


s: And he would gently chide her, "Fie, Dear, fie.


s: I'm glad I played it well.  But such a taking!


s: You'll hear the thing enough before I've done."


s: And she would draw away from him, still shaking.


s: Another violin.  Her strings were aching,


s: Stretched to the touch of his bow hand, again


s: He played and she almost broke at the strain.


s: Where was the use of thinking of it now,


s: Sitting alone and listening to the clock!


s: She'd best make haste and knit another row.


s: Three hours at least must pass before his knock


s: Would startle her.  It always was a shock.


s: She listened--listened--for so long before,


s: That when it came her hearing almost tore.


s: She caught herself just starting in to listen.


s: What nerves she had:  rattling like brittle sticks!


s: She wandered to the window, for the glisten


s: Of a bright moon was tempting.  Snuffed the wicks


s: Of her two candles.  Still she could not fix


s: Beckoned her out and down the garden-path.


s: Against the house, her hollyhocks stood high


s: And black, their shadows doubling them.  The night


s: Was white and still with moonlight, and a sigh


s: Of blowing leaves was there, and the dim flight


s: And stocks, and Marvel of Peru.  She flitted


s: Along the path, where blocks of shadow pitted


s: The even flags.  She let herself go dreaming


s: From 'Orfeo' swam through her mind, but seeming


s: Changed--shriller.  Of a sudden, the clear moon


s: Indeed, but here he was, whistling and striding.


s: Lotta squeezed in between the currants, hiding.


s: "The best laid plans of mice and men," alas!


s: The stranger came indeed, but did not pass.


s: Folding his arms and whistling.  Lotta's state,


s: Crouched in the prickly currants, on wet grass,


s: Was far from pleasant.  Still the stranger stayed,


s: And Lotta in her currants watched, dismayed.


s: He seemed a proper fellow standing there


s: In the bright moonshine.  His cocked hat was laced


s: With silver, and he wore his own brown hair


s: Tied, but unpowdered.  His whole bearing graced


s: A fine cloth coat, and ruffled shirt, and chased


s: Sword-hilt.  Charlotta looked, but her position


s: Was hardly easy.  When would his volition


s: Suggest his walking on?  And then that tune!


s: Gone over and over, and murdered.  What Fortune


s: Had brought him there to stare about him so?


s: "Ach, Gott im Himmel!  Why will he not go!"


s: Thought Lotta, but the young man whistled on,


s: And seemed in no great hurry to be gone.


s: Charlotta, crouched among the currant bushes,


s: Watched the moon slowly dip from twig to twig.


s: If Theodore should chance to come, and blushes


s: Streamed over her.  He would not care a fig,


s: He'd only laugh.  She pushed aside a sprig


s: Of sharp-edged leaves and peered, then she uprose


s: Amid her bushes.  "Sir," said she, "pray whose


s: Garden do you suppose you're watching?  Why


s: Do you stand there?  I really must insist


s: To stay so long."  The young man gave a twist


s: Moonlight he saw her like a nymph half-risen


s: From the green bushes which had been her prison.


s: I came to stay.  My trespass was not sheer


s: Impertinence.  I thought no one was here,


s: Heinrich Marohl of Munich.  And your name?"


s: Promptly exclaimed about her husband's fame.


s: To conversation with him.  When she went


s: Into the house, she found the evening spent.


s: Theodore arrived quite wearied out and teased,


s: It had gone well, he said, the audience pleased,


s: But afterwards he had been forced to stay


s: And practise with the stupid ones.  His head


s: Ached furiously, and he must get to bed.


s: Were spinning like bees on a day in Spring.


s: That the polychrome fire streamed like a lance


s: And dropped from off the end of the bow,


s: Breathed a sound which was holy perfume from a blessed censer,


s: And they waved like fans in a hall of stone


s: Over a bier standing there in the centre, alone.


s: In a splashing, pashing, rippling motion


s: Gulls dipped, and scattered, and squawked, and squealed,


s: And over the marshes the Angelus pealed,


s: And the prows of the fishing-boats were spattered


s: And away a couple of frigates were starting


s: Topgallants, and royals, and stunsails, and jibs,


s: And wide moonsails; and the shining rails


s: Were polished so bright they sparked in the sun.


s: And the sun had set and the high moon whitened,


s: He drew her into the shade of the sails,


s: With the white moon steadily shining over


s: Then a quiver fell on the crowded notes,


s: Till it filled the room with a shimmer like gold,


s: And noises shivered throughout its length,


s: And the stuff waned thinner, but still it bore it.


s: One by one they were quenched as they fell,


s: Paler and paler it grew, and--faded--away.


s: "Well, Lottachen, my Dear, what do you say?


s: I think I'm in good trim.  Now let's have dinner.


s: What's this, my Love, you're very sweet to-day.


s: Of so much sweetness.  But I think you're thinner;


s: You're like a bag of feathers on my knee.


s: Why, Lotta child, you're almost strangling me.


s: I'm glad you're going out this afternoon.


s: The days are getting short, and I'm so tied


s: At the Court Theatre my poor little bride


s: To-night, perhaps, I'll get a pass for you,


s: Now dinner, Love.  I want some onion soup


s: To whip me up till that rehearsal's over.


s: You know it's odd how some women can stoop!


s: Pores over books all day, and has no ear


s: For his wife's singing.  Artists must have men;


s: What messes people make of their lives, when


s: They should know more.  If Gebnitz finds out, then


s: His wife will pack.  Yes, shut the door at once.


s: Frau Altgelt tied her bonnet on and went


s: Into the streets.  A bright, crisp Autumn wind


s: Flirted her skirts and hair.  A turbulent,


s: Audacious wind it was, now close behind,


s: Pushing her bonnet forward till it twined


s: The strings across her face, then from in front


s: Slantingly swinging at her with a shunt,


s: Until she lay against it, struggling, pushing,


s: Dismayed to find her clothing tightly bound


s: Around her, every fold and wrinkle crushing


s: Of some old Grecian temple.  In the breeze


s: Of hard and dazzling colour; something sharp


s: And buoyant, like white, puffing sails at sea.


s: The city streets were twanging like a harp.


s: Charlotta caught the movement, skippingly


s: She blew along the pavement, hardly knowing


s: Where filigreed tiaras shone like crowns,


s: And necklaces of emeralds seemed to drop


s: And then float up again with lightness.  Browns


s: Of striped agates struck her like cold frowns


s: Carved though they were with heads, and arms, and wheels.


s: A row of pencils knobbed with quartz or sard


s: Turned smartly round like hoops before her eyes,


s: To spokes and flashing triangles, and starred


s: With eyes glued tightly on a golden box,


s: Whose rare enamel piqued her with its hue,


s: Of shades and lustres always darting through


s: Charlotta did not hear footsteps approaching.


s: She started at the words:  "Am I encroaching?"


s: "Oh, Heinrich, how you frightened me!  I thought


s: We were to meet at three, is it quite that?"


s: "No, it is not," he answered, "but I've caught


s: The trick of missing you.  One thing is flat,


s: Might best be conjured up by the word:  'Hell'.


s: Dearest, when will you come?"  Lotta, to quell


s: Heinrich was chafing, pricked by his desire.


s: Little by little she wooed him to her mood


s: She vainly urged against him all her lack


s: Of other trinkets.  Should she dare to use


s: A ring or brooch her husband might accuse


s: A strict accounting, or still worse might be.


s: But Heinrich would not be persuaded.  Why


s: Should he not give her what he liked?  And in


s: If she went in with him, the shopman might


s: Recognize her, give her her name; in days


s: To come he could denounce her.  In her fright


s: She almost fled.  But Heinrich would be quite


s: She pushed the door and entered hurriedly.


s: It took some pains to keep him from bestowing


s: A pair of ruby earrings, carved like roses,


s: The setting twined to represent the growing


s: Tendrils and leaves, upon her.  "Who supposes


s: I could obtain such things!  It simply closes


s: All comfort for me."  So he changed his mind


s: And bought as slight a gift as he could find.


s: A locket, frosted over with seed pearls,


s: Oblong and slim, for wearing at the neck,


s: Or hidden in the bosom; their joined curls


s: Should lie in it.  And further to bedeck


s: His love, Heinrich had picked a whiff, a fleck,


s: To hang it from.  Lotta could not refrain


s: From weeping as they sauntered down the street.


s: She did not want the locket, yet she did.


s: To have him love her she found very sweet,


s: Then there was something in her heart which chid


s: Her, told her she loved Theodore in him,


s: That all these meetings were a foolish whim.


s: She thought of Theodore and the life they led,


s: So near together, but so little mingled.


s: The great clouds bulged and bellied overhead,


s: And the fresh wind about her body tingled;


s: The crane of a large warehouse creaked and jingled;


s: Charlotta held her breath for very fear,


s: About her in the street she seemed to hear:


s: And it was Theodore, under the racing skies,


s: Who held her and who whispered in her ear.


s: She knew her heart was telling her no lies,


s: The touch of him would send her in a queer


s: Swoon that was half an ecstasy.  And yearning


s: For Theodore, she wandered, slowly turning


s: Street after street as Heinrich wished it so.


s: He had some aim, she had forgotten what.


s: Their progress was confused and very slow,


s: But at the last they reached a lonely spot,


s: Of soaring steeple.  At their feet, the town


s: Spread open like a chequer-board laid down.


s: Vaguely remembered how he clasped the chain


s: About her neck.  She treated it in jest,


s: And saw his face cloud over with sharp pain.


s: Then suddenly she felt as though a strain


s: Were put upon her, collared like a slave,


s: Leashed in the meshes of this thing he gave.


s: She seized the flimsy rings with both her hands


s: To snap it, but they held with odd persistence.


s: Her eyes were blinded by two wind-blown strands


s: Of hair which had been loosened.  Her resistance


s: Melted within her, from remotest distance,


s: Misty, unreal, his face grew warm and near,


s: For long he held her, and they both gazed down


s: At the wide city, and its blue, bridged river.


s: From wooing he jested with her, snipped the blown


s: Strands of her hair, and tied them with a sliver


s: Cut from his own head.  But she gave a shiver


s: When, opening the locket, they were placed


s: Under the glass, commingled and enlaced.


s: "When will you have it so with us?"  He sighed.


s: She shook her head.  He pressed her further.  "No,


s: No, Heinrich, Theodore loves me," and she tried


s: To free herself and rise.  He held her so,


s: Clipped by his arms, she could not move nor go.


s: "But you love me," he whispered, with his face


s: Burning against her through her kerchief's lace.


s: Frau Altgelt knew she toyed with fire, knew


s: That what her husband lit this other man


s: Fanned to hot flame.  She told herself that few


s: No danger since she knew what things to ban.


s: She opened her house door at five o'clock,


s: A short half-hour before her husband's knock.


s: The 'Residenz-Theater' sparked and hummed


s: With lights and people.  Gebnitz was to sing,


s: That rare soprano.  All the fiddles strummed


s: With tuning up; the wood-winds made a ring


s: Of sharp, red brass pierced every ear-drum; patting


s: From muffled tympani made a dark slatting


s: The 'celli pizzicato-ed like great lutes,


s: Away to silence, while loud harp-strings hailed


s: Their thin, bright colours down in such a scatter


s: They lost themselves amid the general clatter.


s: Before her eyes a thousand candles shone


s: In the great chandeliers.  A maze of curled


s: And powdered periwigs past her eyes swirled.


s: She smelt the smoke of candles guttering,


s: All round her in the boxes.  Red and gold,


s: Filliped the candlelight about, and bold


s: Young sparks with eye-glasses, unblushingly


s: An officer went by, his steel spurs jangling.


s: Behind Charlotta an old man was wrangling


s: About a play-bill he had bought and lost.


s: Three drunken soldiers had to be ejected.


s: Frau Altgelt's eyes stared at the vacant post


s: Of Concert-Meister, she at once detected


s: The stir which brought him.  But she felt neglected


s: When with no glance about him or her way,


s: And never a soul could tell whether they rang,


s: Step-step-stepping to the beating of the drums.


s: In tune to the slow, sweeping bows, and retreats and advances,


s: To curtsies brushing the waxen floor as the Court dances.


s: Long and peaceful like warm Summer nights


s: When stars shine in the quiet river.  And against the lights


s: Of flutes and horns in the lamplit grounds.


s: Pressed against him in the mazy wavering


s: Of a country dance, with her short breath quavering


s: And the lapping of water on the stone stair.


s: Twang harps, and squeal, you thin violins,


s: That the dancers may dance, and never discover


s: The old stone stair leading down to the river


s: With the chestnut-tree branches hanging over


s: The evening passed like this, in a half faint,


s: Which were the entr'acts.  Under the restraint


s: Outside, the talk, the passing to and fro,


s: She heard the Gebnitz praised, the tenor lauded,


s: The scenery and the costumes were applauded,


s: The latter it was whispered had been sent


s: When the next act began, her eyes were swimming,


s: Her prodded ears were aching and confused.


s: The first notes from the orchestra sent skimming


s: Her outward consciousness.  Her brain was fused


s: To hear him play, she caught his single tone.


s: For all she noticed they two were alone.


s: Frau Altgelt waited in the chilly street,


s: Shouting their coachmen's names; forced to retreat


s: A pace or two by lurching chairmen; thrown


s: Thrust close to hers in most unpleasant wise.


s: Was sworn at by this glittering gentleman


s: And ordered off.  However, no great harm


s: Came to her.  But she looked a trifle wan


s: Emerged.  She snuggled up against him, trembling,


s: Half out of fear, half out of the assembling


s: Of all the thoughts and needs his playing had given.


s: Had she enjoyed herself, he wished to know.


s: "Oh! Theodore, can't you feel that it was Heaven!"


s: Gebnitz was in good voice, but all the flow


s: A wretched flutist, she was mad as hops."


s: To bring him to her dream.  His lack of tact


s: Kept him explaining all the homeward way


s: How this thing had gone well, that badly.  "Stay,


s: Theodore!" she cried at last.  "You know to me


s: And he was heartily glad she had enjoyed


s: Herself so much, and said so.  "But it's good


s: Was old, and evening air did it no good.


s: But when he drew up to the table for tea


s: Struck him as hectic, worried him in short.


s: He talked of this and that but watched her close.


s: Herself, all whipt to quivering, curdled life,


s: And he, poor fool, misunderstood his wife.


s: Suddenly, broken through her anxious grasp,


s: Her music-kindled love crashed on him there.


s: Amazed, he felt her fling against him, clasp


s: Her arms about him, weighing down his chair,


s: "Theodore, a woman needs to hear things proved.


s: Unless you tell me, I feel I'm not loved."


s: Theodore went under in this tearing wave,


s: Filled him with all the energy she gave.


s: He was a youth again, and this bright glow,


s: Her what she was to him.  Laughing and crying,


s: She asked assurances there's no denying.


s: He quite convinced her, every now and then


s: She kissed him, shivering as though doubting still.


s: But later when they were composed and when


s: She dared relax her probings, "Lottachen,"


s: He asked, "how is it your love has withstood


s: She told him, and no doubt she meant it truly,


s: That he was sun, and grass, and wind, and sky


s: To her.  And even if conscience were unruly


s: She salved it by neat sophistries, but why


s: She said, for Heinrich was as much forgot


s: As though he'd never been within earshot.


s: But Theodore's hands in straying and caressing


s: Upon her neck.  "What is this thing I'm pressing?"


s: He asked.  "Let's bring it to the light of day."


s: He lifted up the locket.  "It should stay


s: Outside, my Dear.  Your mother has good taste.


s: Out of her happiness.  The locket brought


s: And choked, and frozen.  Suddenly she sought


s: The clasp, but with such art was this contrived


s: Upon it.  Feeling, twisting, round and round,


s: She pulled the chain quite through the locket's ring


s: And still it held.  Her neck, encompassed, bound,


s: Chafed at the sliding meshes.  Such a thing


s: To hurl her out of joy!  A gilded string


s: Binding her folly to her, and those curls


s: Which lay entwined beneath the clustered pearls!


s: Again she tried to break the cord.  It stood.


s: "Unclasp it, Theodore," she begged.  But he


s: As she has taken the great pains to send


s: With her fine taste you cannot disagree,


s: The locket is most beautifully designed."


s: He opened it and there the curls were, twined.


s: Charlotta's heart dropped beats like knitting-stitches.


s: She burned a moment, flaming; then she froze.


s: Her face was jerked by little, nervous twitches,


s: She heard her husband asking:  "What are those?"


s: But stopped, the gesture half-complete, astounded


s: At the calm way the question was propounded.


s: A lovely thought:  yours and your mother's hair!"


s: "Never with my connivance shall you doff


s: This charming gift."  He kissed her on the cheek,


s: And Lotta suffered him, quite crushed and meek.


s: Watching the moonlight slip along the floor,


s: She felt the chain and wept for Theodore's sake.


s: She had loved Heinrich also, and the core


s: Of truth, unlovely, startled her.  Wherefore


s: She vowed from now to break this double life


s: And see herself only as Theodore's wife.


s: Heinrich that it was finished.  Hard to say


s: That though they could not meet (he saw her wince)


s: Suspicion in her husband.  She would pay


s: Him from her savings bit by bit--the oath


s: He swore at that was startling to them both.


s: She found her husband all that she had felt


s: His music to contain.  Her days were set


s: Cased in bright gold.  She joyed in her confining;


s: Her eyes put out her looking-glass with shining.


s: Charlotta was so gay that old, dull tasks


s: She baked and brewed as one who only asks


s: Of prayer were duties, and her festivals


s: When Theodore praised some dish, or frankly said


s: So Autumn went, and all the mountains round


s: The city glittered white with fallen snow,


s: For it was Winter.  Over the hard ground


s: Herr Altgelt's footsteps came, each one a blow.


s: On the swept flags behind the currant row


s: Charlotta stood to greet him.  But his lip


s: Only flicked hers.  His Concert-Meistership


s: Was first again.  This evening he had got


s: Young Mozart was arrived.  That old despot,


s: The Bishop of Salzburg, had let him come


s: Himself to lead it, and the parts, still hot


s: From copying, had been tried over.  Never


s: The orchestra had cheered till they were hoarse,


s: The singers clapped and clapped.  The town was made,


s: With such a great attraction through the course


s: All other cities would be left!  The trade


s: In music would all drift here naturally.


s: Lotta was forced to take his cup and put


s: It in his hand.  But still he rattled on,


s: Strings he was using gave out such a tone


s: The "Maestro" had remarked it, and had gone


s: Out of his way to praise him.  Lotta smiled,


s: From that day on, Herr Altgelt, more and more,


s: Absorbed himself in work.  Lotta at first


s: Was patient and well-wishing.  But it wore


s: Upon her when two weeks had brought no burst


s: Of loving from him.  Then she feared the worst;


s: That his short interest in her was a light


s: A name that poor Charlotta learnt to hate.


s: Herr Altgelt worked so hard he seldom came


s: Past midnight sometimes, when he knocked.  His state


s: Was like a flabby orange whose crushed skin


s: Is thin with pulling, and all dented in.


s: He practised every morning and her heart


s: Followed his bow.  But often she would sit,


s: While he was playing, quite withdrawn apart,


s: The locket, which now seemed to her a bit


s: Of some gone youth.  His music drew her tears,


s: And through the notes he played, her dreading ears


s: Heard Heinrich's voice, saying he had not changed;


s: Their minds off love.  So far her thoughts had ranged


s: Away from her stern vow, she chanced to take


s: Her way, one morning, quite by a mistake,


s: Along the street where Heinrich had his shop.


s: What harm to pass it since she should not stop!


s: Him on a bridge, and blushed, and hurried by.


s: Nor how the following week he stood to let


s: Her pass, the pavement narrowing suddenly.


s: How once he took her basket, and once he


s: Pulled back a rearing horse who might have struck


s: Her with his hoofs.  It seemed the oddest luck


s: How many times their business took them each


s: Right to the other.  Then at last he spoke,


s: But she would only nod, he got no speech


s: From her.  Next time he treated it in joke,


s: And that so lightly that her vow she broke


s: And answered.  So they drifted into seeing


s: Each other as before.  There was no fleeing.


s: Was very near, and tripping from each tongue


s: Was talk of the new opera.  Each book-stall


s: Flaunted it out in bills, what airs were sung,


s: What singers hired.  Pictures of the young


s: "Maestro" were for sale.  The town was mad.


s: Each day now brought a struggle 'twixt her will


s: And Heinrich's.  'Twixt her love for Theodore


s: Herself to solve her problem.  For a score


s: Of reasons Heinrich tempted her.  He bore


s: Her moods with patience, and so surely urged


s: With him seemed easy.  But next morning would


s: Then she would realize that she must cleave


s: To convince Heinrich she should never leave,


s: And afterwards she would go home and grieve.


s: All thought in Munich centered on the part


s: The twenty-ninth was fixed.  And all seats, even


s: Those almost at the ceiling, which were driven


s: The inches of the theatre went for gold.


s: With work, he hardly printed black behind


s: But dazed outside his playing, and the rind,


s: The pine and maple of his fiddle, guarded


s: A part of him which he had quite discarded.


s: It woke in the silence of frost-bright nights,


s: Like will-o'-the-wisps flickering, fluttering,


s: And the faint grey patch of the window shone


s: The twenty-eighth was last rehearsal day,


s: 'Twas called for noon, so early morning meant


s: Herr Altgelt's only time in which to play


s: His part alone.  Drawn like a monk who's spent


s: Himself in prayer and fasting, Theodore went


s: Of cheer to Lotta, careless if she heard.


s: She heard the vibrating of strings and wood.


s: She was washing the dishes, her hands all suds,


s: With cherry blossoms at butterfly poise.


s: And in the distance a shepherd is clacking


s: His shears, snip-snipping the wool from his sheep.


s: Like sunlight hanging in pines and pines,


s: The back is maple and the belly is pine.


s: Ping!  Ping!  pizzicato, something is cheeping.


s: There is a twittering up in the branches,


s: And a little ruffled-out throat which sings.


s: Peewits, and thrushes, and larks, all at once,


s: A blackbird whistles, how sharp, how shrill!


s: You can almost hear them splash on the ground.


s: Over those creepers, for they are shrouds;


s: And men are running up them to furl the sails,


s: The deck is aslant in the bubbling breeze.


s: And the boatswain's whistle sounds again,


s: The trees of the forest are masts, tall masts;


s: The suds were dried upon Charlotta's hands,


s: She leant against the table for support,


s: Wholly forgotten.  Theodore's eyes were brands


s: Burning upon his music.  He stopped short.


s: Charlotta almost heard the sound of bands


s: Snapping.  She put one hand up to her heart,


s: Her fingers touched the locket with a start.


s: Listlessly.  "Lotta, I must have some rest.


s: The strain will be a hideous one to-day.


s: Don't speak to me at all.  It will be best


s: She disobey, he left her.  On the stairs


s: She heard his mounting steps.  What use were prayers!


s: He could not hear, he was not there, for she


s: Before her, on a chair, lay the shagreen


s: Sun flash the open clasp.  The locket's edge


s: Cut at her fingers like a pushing wedge.


s: Chimed ten, the fire flickered in the grate.


s: She was alone.  Her throat began to swell


s: With sobs.  What kept her here, why should she wait?


s: Lay in its case before her.  Here she flung


s: Over her head, the hanging clock's loud ticking


s: Caught on her ear.  'Twas slow, and as she paused


s: The little door in it came open, flicking


s: A wooden cuckoo out:  "Cuckoo!"  It caused


s: The forest dream to come again.  "Cuckoo!"


s: Smashed on the grate, the violin broke in two.


s: "Cuckoo!  Cuckoo!" the clock kept striking on;


s: But no one listened.  Frau Altgelt had gone.


s: Something falls, settles, is still.  Suicides have no coffin.


s: "He'll never walk.  Nailed to the ground."


s: heavy-foliaged trees. Down the road to Wayfleet, silence--and the


s: Edgarstown, silence--and stars like stepping-stones in a pathway


s: Minna and Stella run out into the garden


s: Their diamond whiteness cleaving the yellow sunshine.


s: The gravel crunches and squeaks beneath them,


s: And a large pebble springs them into the air


s: Spit out a shower of blue and white brightness.


s: The little criss-cross shoes twinkle behind you,


s: The pink and blue sashes flutter like flags,


s: Turn, turn, Hoops!  In the yellow sunshine.


s: With a bumpety, crunching, scattering sound,


s: And the great hoop bounds along the path,


s: Turn about, hoop, to the tap of my stick,


s: Round and round, to the tap of a stick."


s: The hoop flies along between the flower-beds,


s: Swaying the flowers with the wind of its passing.


s: Beside the foxglove-border roll the hoops,


s: And the little pink and white bells shake and jingle


s: And the ground behind them is strewn with white petals;


s: Jostle the quietness from a cluster of monk's-hood.


s: Pat! Pat! behind them come the little criss-cross shoes,


s: And the blue and pink sashes stream out in flappings of colour.


s: Here is a path that is perfectly straight.


s: First to the greenhouse and then to the wall


s: Whirring you round like a wreath of mist.


s: And the hoops bowl along under a grape arbour.


s: For an instant their willow whiteness is green,


s: Hitting her hoop smartly with her stick.


s: "Stella, Stella, we are winning," calls Minna,


s: As her hoop curves round a bed of clove-pinks.


s: A humming-bird whizzes past Stella's ear,


s: And two or three yellow-and-black butterflies


s: Flutter, startled, out of a pillar rose.


s: And the scents of the garden rise up quietly about them.


s: Perhaps he's brought us a book from Boston."


s: Twinkle, twinkle, the little criss-cross shoes


s: Blue--pink--an instant, against the syringa hedge.


s: But the hoops, white as stripped willow-wands,


s: And the grasshoppers jump back and forth


s: The little girls sway to the counting rhythm;


s: Yellow heat twines round the handles of the battledores,


s: Scarlet, and blue, and purple, and white--


s: Blurred colour reflections in rippled water--


s: For the moment that Stella takes to lift her arm.


s: Stepping up on the rising scents of flowers,


s: Buoyed up and under by the shining heat.


s: "Ninety-nine," Stella's battledore springs to the impact.


s: And the little girls stop in the hall to watch it,


s: And the big ships rocking in a half-circle


s: That is the way they know which is which.


s: Crushing a leaf of box for its acrid smell,


s: Hand in hand, the little girls call to him:


s: Give me molasses, or I'll throw you away."


s: The grasshopper leaps into the sunlight,


s: Two heads are thrust among the Canterbury bells,


s: And fingers clasp and unclasp behind backs


s: There is a floundering and buzzing over Minna's head.


s: The stem flies up, jiggling its flower-bells,


s: And Minna holds the dark blue cup in her hand,


s: The blue flower tears across like paper,


s: And a gold-black bee darts away in the sunshine.


s: The sunshine is hot on Stella's upturned face,


s: Taller than the heads of the little girls.


s: With green traces tying them to the chariot.


s: "Now we will get in, and fly right up to the clouds.


s: Holding their dove chariots in front of them;


s: But the bee is hidden in the trumpet of a honeysuckle,


s: And the little girls wander slowly through the garden,


s: Rise up behind the little red and green man;


s: Their hats, round and yellow like cheeses,


s: The grass is a tumult of buttercups and daisies;


s: The garden is purple, and pink, and orange, and scarlet;


s: But the meadow is only yellow, and white, and green,


s: "You're as gold as Grandfather's snuff-box.


s: The ground is peppered with daisy petals,


s: And the little girls nibble the golden centres,


s: The throats of the little red trumpet-flowers are wide open,


s: And the clangour of brass beats against the hot sunlight.


s: Clang!--from its red and yellow trumpets.


s: I sit in the cool arbour, in a green-and-gold twilight.


s: It is very still, for I cannot hear the trumpets,


s: And that the sun above the arbour shakes with heat.


s: And makes fine-drawn lines with its point.


s: Down the long, white paper it makes little lines,


s: My heart is strained out at the pin-point of my quill;


s: It is thin and writhing like the marks of the pen.


s: It marches down the paper to a squealing of fifes.


s: Marching in your ragged shoes to batter down King George.


s: What have you got in your hat?  Not a feather, I wager.


s: Just a hay-straw, for it is the harvest you are fighting for.


s: Hay in your hat, and the whites of their eyes for a target!


s: The red city, and the blue, bright water,


s: To-day the trumpet-flowers are red--red--


s: And Myra sings "Yankee Doodle" at her milking.


s: The red throats of the trumpets bray and clang in the sunshine,


s: And the smoke-tree puffs dun blossoms into the blue air.


s: All Venice is a falling of Autumn leaves--


s: Lord!  What a strumming of fiddles and mandolins!


s: Call my maid, or I will make you lace me yourself.


s: Fie, how hot it is, not a breath of air!


s: See how straight the leaves are falling.


s: Am I well painted to-day, 'caro Abate mio'?


s: You will be proud of me at the 'Ridotto', hey?


s: Proud of being 'Cavalier Servente' to such a lady?"


s: "Can you doubt it, 'Bellissima Contessa'?


s: The little black slave with the yellow satin turban


s: Gazes at his mistress with strained eyes.


s: The yellow satin dress with its silver flashings


s: Masks coming, printing themselves for an instant,


s: Masks with tricorns and rapiers sticking out behind


s: Pursuing masks with plumes and high heels,


s: The sunlight shining under their insteps.


s: There is a thronging of shadows on the hot wall,


s: Filigreed at the top with moving leaves.


s: And the shadow of a leaf falls through them,


s: And night blackness lurking in the ceiling beams.


s: Saint Mark's glitters with flames and reflections.


s: Licks out over the coloured inlays of the pavement.


s: Saint Mark's looks down at the swarm of black masks;


s: And outside in the palace gardens brown leaves fall,


s: And the waves push darkly against the prow


s: Glares out like the eye of a watching tiger.


s: The lovers seek each other beneath their mantles,


s: As she picked her dainty passage through


s: Of this nut's too big for its kernel, lain


s: Don't look to the killing of men in crowds.


s: Poor fellows with guns and bayonets for shrouds!


s: Pray, Mademoiselle, come out of the sun.


s: Let me dust off that wicker chair.  It's cool


s: In here, for the green leaves I have run


s: Of shade.  You see the pears on that stool--


s: Quivered and sparked the shop, the sheaves


s: Of sunbeams, glanced from the sign on the eaves,


s: And splintered to little scattered lights.


s: Jeanne Tourmont entered the shop, her poke


s: And her face looked out like the moon on nights


s: Of flickering clouds.  "Monsieur Popain, I


s: Or excellent plums, but not if they're high;


s: Haven't you some which a strong wind blew?


s: Monsieur Popain shrugged and rubbed his hands.


s: With the thin skin tight like a bursting vest,


s: All yellow, and red, and brown, in smears.


s: "Smell it, Mademoiselle, the perfume there


s: Is like lavender, and sweet thoughts come


s: And those grapes!  They melt in the mouth like wine,


s: Just a click of the tongue, and they burst to honey.


s: And I paid for them down in silver money.


s: The Corporal's widow is witness, her pony


s: Those oranges--Gold!  They're almost red.


s: From the sun itself.  Or perhaps instead


s: You'd like a pomegranate, they're rarely gay,


s: When you split them the seeds are like crimson spray.


s: Yes, they're high, they're high, and those Turkey figs,


s: They all come from the South, and Nelson's ships


s: To the cursed English, and when men clips


s: Through powder to bring them, why dainties mounts


s: I'll strip off that husk, when one discounts


s: With the man who grew them, it does seem how


s: They would come dear; and then the fight


s: But once in a way they're caught; one feels


s: From an almond kernel are worth two sous.


s: "Purses are tight, but I shall not lose.


s: There's plenty of cheaper things to choose."


s: Currants they are, they were planted long


s: Other great beauties, before the Chateau


s: Was left to rot.  Now the Gardener's wife,


s: He that marched off to his death at Marengo,


s: From snuffing out, with her pruning knife.


s: She's a poor old thing, but she learnt the trade


s: When her man was young, and the young Marquis


s: Couldn't have enough garden.  The flowers he made


s: All new!  And the fruits!  But 'twas said that he


s: Was no friend to the people, and so they laid


s: Well, but I think there was some mistake.


s: He just pottered round in his garden, bent


s: In those days for the New Republic's sake.


s: He's gone, and the garden is all that's left


s: Not in ruin, but the currants and apricots,


s: And peaches, furred and sweet, with a cleft


s: Full of morning dew, in those green-glazed pots,


s: Why, Mademoiselle, there is never an eft


s: How the old woman keeps them I cannot say,


s: But they're finer than any grown this way."


s: Jeanne Tourmont drew back the filigree ring


s: Of her striped silk purse, tipped it upside down


s: And shook it, two coins fell with a ding


s: In a drop of sunlight between two shades.


s: She jerked the purse, took its empty ends


s: And crumpled them toward the centre braids.


s: Of colours and stripes.  "Monsieur Popain, friends


s: We have always been.  In the days before


s: When you needed help.  You need no more;


s: Of pungent raspberries, tanged like wood.


s: Like fringe and trembled.  He reached a round


s: Basket, with handles, from where it swung


s: And filled it, then he searched and found


s: The francs Jeanne Tourmont had let fall.


s: "You'll return the basket, Mademoiselle?"


s: Monsieur Popain bowed, somewhat abashed.


s: Through glare and noise she stumbled, dazed.


s: Beating with fear.  Through whirling light


s: Her fruit stained the cobbles of the way.


s: c'est le General Bonaparte, partant pour la Guerre!"


s: grass-plots. India muslins spangled with silver patterns slide


s: through trees--mingle--separate--white day fireflies flashing


s: moon-brilliance in the shade of foliage.


s: "The kangaroos!  I vow, Captain, I must see the kangaroos."


s: White under her veil, drained and shaking, the woman crosses the


s: The glass-houses grow and grow, and every year fling up hotter


s: Can a river flow when the spring is dry?


s: Suddenly the Emperor calls his carriage and rolls away across the


s: "Quick, fellow, don't spare your horses."


s: All through the lead and silver Winter days,


s: Two thousand oak trees grown and felled,


s: Two thousand oaks from the hedgerows of the Weald,


s: Thirty mortal feet, say the village folks.


s: Two hundred loads of elm and Scottish fir;


s: Two years they have seasoned her ribs on the ways,


s: You can hear, though there's nothing where you gaze.


s: Through the fog down the reaches of the river,


s: The tapping goes on like heart-beats in a fever.


s: The shoring-up beams shudder at the strain.


s: The hull swarms with carpenters, running in and out.


s: Jem Wilson has been to sea and he tells some wonderful tales


s: He boasts magnificently, with his mouth full of nails.


s: He shifts his quid of tobacco and sings:


s: "The second in command was blear-eyed Ned:


s: While the surgeon his limb was a-lopping,


s: A nine-pounder came and smack went his head,


s: Pull away, pull away, pull away!  I say;


s: And some have brought cold chicken and flagons


s: "Dear!  Dear!  But I tell 'ee 'twill be a fine ship.


s: There's none finer in any of the slips at Chatham."


s: The third Summer's roses have started in to blow,


s: Flutings, and twinings, and long slow swirls,


s: Bits of deal shaved away to thin spiral curls.


s: Tap!  Tap!  A cornucopia is nailed into place.


s: And the paint on it!  The richest gold leaf!


s: Why, the glitter when the sun is shining passes belief.


s: And that row of glass windows tipped toward the sky


s: Are rubies and carbuncles when the day is dry.


s: Stand about and sparkle in big wooden pails.


s: And I swigg'd, and all of us swigg'd it,


s: Even though coppering is not an easy thing.


s: What a splendid specimen of humanity is a true British workman,


s: To the sound of the evening church-bells.


s: And so artistic, too, each one tells his neighbour.


s: Miss Jessie Prime, in a pink silk bonnet,


s: When she steps lightly down from Lawyer Green's whisky;


s: Such amazing beauty makes one feel frisky,


s: Miss Jessie answers that the ship is "a love".


s: The port-lids are red when the ports are up:


s: There is a wide "black strake" at the waterline


s: And above is a blue like the sky when the weather is fine.


s: "Why?" asks Miss Jessie.  "'Tis a horrid note."


s: He says, "Be careful, the paint is wet."


s: But Miss Jessie has touched it, her sprigged muslin gown


s: Has a blood-red streak from the shoulder down.


s: "It looks like blood," says Miss Jessie with a frown.


s: But the wind has increased to half a gale,


s: And the ship shakes and quivers upon the ways.


s: The Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard is coming


s: In his ten-oared barge from the King's Stairs;


s: The Marine's band will play "God Save Great George Our King";


s: There is no time now to wait for Commissioners and marine bands.


s: Mr. Nichols has a bottle of port in his hands.


s: He leans over, holding his hat, and shouts to the men below:


s: And the ship slides down the greased planking.


s: And port wine running all over the white and copper stem timbers.


s: And the red wine washes away in the waters of the Medway.


s: Fine yellow sunlight down the rue du Mont Thabor.


s: Ten o'clock striking from all the clock-towers of Paris.


s: Over the door of a shop, in gilt letters:


s: "Martin--Parfumeur", and something more.


s: "Don't touch the letters.  My name stays."


s: "Just take down the eagle, and the shield with the bees."


s: The man on the ladder hammers steadily for a minute or two,


s: You and Paul must have them down to-day."


s: Drum-beating at the something of gilded wood.


s: Lighting up the yellow fronts of houses,


s: A Prussian hussar on a grey horse goes by at a dash.


s: From other shops, the noise of striking blows:


s: That you are in the street this morning?  Don't turn your back


s: And scuttle into your shop like a rabbit to its hole.


s: Dirty fellows, who don't believe in frills


s: Like washing.  Ah, mon vieux, you'd have to go


s: Out of business if you lived in Russia.  So!


s: We've given up being perfumers to the Emperor, have we?


s: Maybe I can find a use for her one of these days.


s: Take me inside and let me put my head into a stack


s: Within the shop, the light is dimmed to a pearl-and-green dusk


s: Out of which dreamily sparkle counters and shelves of glass,


s: Containing phials, and bowls, and jars, and dishes; a mass


s: Of aqueous transparence made solid by threads of gold.


s: And scents which whiff across the green twilight and pass.


s: The perfumer sits down and shakes his head:


s: He is reading the names on the bottles and bowls,


s: Done in fine gilt letters with wonderful scrolls.


s: "What have we here?  'Eau Imperial Odontalgique.'


s: I must say, mon cher, your names are chic.


s: But it won't do, positively it will not do.


s: Elba doesn't count.  Ah, here is another:


s: 'Sage Oil', perhaps he'll be good now; with it we'll submit


s: This fine German rouge.  I fear he is pale."


s: At misfortune.  He treated me well and fairly."


s: "And you prefer him to Bourbons, admit it squarely."


s: "Oh, Lord, Martin!  That shield is hash.


s: The whole street is covered with golden bees.


s: Lying there in the mud.  I'd like to paint it.


s: 'Plum pudding of Empire'.  That's rather quaint, it


s: Might take with the Kings.  Shall I try?"  "Oh, Sir,


s: You distress me, you do."  "Poor old Martin's purr!


s: Now let us get back to the powders and patches.


s: The Kings are here now.  We must hit on a plan


s: To change all these titles as fast as we can.


s: 'Bouquet Imperatrice'.  Tut!  Tut!  Give me some ink--


s: 'Bouquet de la Reine', what do you think?


s: 'Extract of Nobility'--excellent, since most of them are killed."


s: The compliments, also the pastes and dentifrices;


s: Send some to the Kings, and some to the Empresses.


s: 'Oil of Bitter Almonds'--the Empress Josephine can have that.


s: 'Oil of Parma Violets' fits the other one pat."


s: 'The night cometh soon'--etc.  Don't jerk


s: Me up like that.  'Essence de la Valliere'--


s: And, oh! Magnificent!  Listen to this!--


s: 'Vinaigre des Quatre Voleurs'.  Nothing amiss


s: With that--England, Austria, Russia and Prussia!


s: Upheavals of continents can't keep you under."


s: At such levity.  What France has gone through--"


s: Cold, impassive, the marble arch of the Place du Carrousel.


s: Haughty, contemptuous, the marble arch of the Place du Carrousel.


s: Stands the marble arch of the Place du Carrousel.


s: What falls to the ground like a streak of flame?


s: Hush!  It is only a bit of bronze flashing in the sun.


s: Be still and imperturbable like the marble arch.


s: Another bright spark falls through the blue air.


s: Over the Place du Carrousel a wailing of despair.


s: Workmen are chipping off the names of Napoleon's victories


s: From the triumphal arch of the Place du Carrousel.


s: Do they need so much force to quell the crowd?


s: An old Grenadier of the line groans aloud,


s: And each hammer tap points the sob of a woman.


s: Russia, Prussia, Austria, and the faded-white-lily Bourbon king


s: Vienna is scattered all over the Place du Carrousel


s: In glittering, bent, and twisted letters.


s: Your betters have clattered over Vienna before,


s: Officer of his Imperial Majesty our Father-in-Law!


s: A workman's chisel can strew you to the winds,


s: To pleasure Paris, used to the fall of cities,


s: One month, and our lily-white Bourbon king


s: "Oh, merciful God, they will not touch Austerlitz!


s: Strike me blind, my God, my eyes can never look on that.


s: I would give the other leg to save it, it took one.


s: Curse them!  Curse them!  Aim at his hat.


s: Give me the stone.  Why didn't you give it to me?


s: Curse all of them!  They have got the 'A'!"


s: "I saw the Terror, but I never saw so horrible a thing as this.


s: Her marble coldness will endure the march


s: Devil take the mare!  I've never seen so vicious a beast.


s: She kicked Jules the last time she was here,


s: "I'd rather be lame than dead at Waterloo, M'sieu Charles."


s: And decent men, who stood up and fought.


s: We never got beaten, because we wouldn't be.


s: "You would have taught them, wouldn't you, Sergeant Boignet?


s: Is the green geese in his army, led by traitors.


s: If there are any spies lurking behind the bellows,


s: And advances, brandishing it, into the shadows.


s: And beats it from red to peacock-blue and black,


s: Then the blacksmith brushes his hand over his eyes,


s: The Sergeant charges out from behind the bellows.


s: Their hearts are all whites and yellows,


s: That's what we want.  Fouche should be fed


s: To the guillotine, and all Paris dance the carmagnole.


s: "Say that again, Monsieur Charles, and I'll stun


s: You where you stand for a dung-eating Royalist."


s: The Sergeant gives the poker a savage twist;


s: He is as purple as the cooling horseshoes.


s: The air from the bellows creaks through the flues.


s: Tap!  Tap!  The blacksmith shoes Victorine,


s: Of leaves flutters, with the sun between.


s: You can see the Sergeant, with swollen gorge,


s: And the hammer strokes fall like buzzing bees


s: Like the hum of a waterfall struck by a breeze.


s: Clank! from the bellows-chain pulled up and down.


s: And sunshine twinkles on Victorine's flank,


s: For another quarter of an hour."  "As you hope to die,


s: "A chaise, without arms on the panels, at the gate


s: We must be there in half an hour with swift cattle.


s: You're a stupid fool if you don't hear that rattle.


s: Those are German guns.  Can't you guess the rest?


s: Tap!  Tap! as though the hammers were mad.


s: Jerks the bellows till he cracks their bones,


s: And the stifled air hiccoughs and groans.


s: Stone dead, and his hat with the tricolore


s: What glistens on the anvil?  Sweat or tears?


s: They are hanging dull black cloth about the dead.


s: Which chokes the radiance of the moonlight


s: And puts out the little moving shadows of leaves.


s: Chiselled like a cameo of white agate against the hangings,


s: Struck to brilliance by the falling moonlight,


s: Played over by the moonlight from the windows


s: Upholsterer Darling has a fine shop in Jamestown.


s: He has a corps of men in it, toiling and swearing,


s: Knocking, and measuring, and planing, and squaring,


s: Setting this and that part together with their tools.


s: That carpenters have been taken from the new church,


s: Joiners have been called from shaping pews and lecterns


s: Coffins is what they are making this bright Summer morning.


s: And Captain Bennett's best mahogany dining-table


s: Has been sawed up for the grand outer coffin.


s: But inside, only hollow coffins and the tapping upon them.


s: And the coffins grow under their hammers


s: Bearing oblong things upon their shoulders


s: March slowly along the road to Longwood.


s: Their feet fall softly in the dust of the road;


s: And one of them Captain Bennett's dining-table!


s: Your princely munificence makes one's heart glow.


s: Dead man, who burst your heart against a world too narrow,


s: The hammers drum you to your last throne


s: The glory of your past is faded as a sunset fire,


s: Your day lingers only like the tones of a wind-lyre


s: Double napoleons stamped with Consul or Emperor,


s: Worn in a vision and melted away at waking.


s: And now it is content with a silver dish.


s: Lower it gently beside him and let it lie.


s: With a little man on top.  Goodness!  Tell me why?


s: He looks a silly thing enough to stand up there so high.


s: What a strange fellow, like a soldier in a play,


s: Tight-fitting coat with the tails cut away,


s: High-crowned hat which the brims overlay.


s: Two-horned hat makes an outline like a bow.


s: Must have a sword, I can see the light glow


s: Between a dark line and his leg.  Vertigo


s: I get gazing up at him, a pygmy flashed with sun.


s: A weathercock or scarecrow or both things in one?


s: Say, what is the use of him if he doesn't turn?


s: Just put up to glitter there, like a torch to burn,


s: A sort of sacrificial show in a lofty urn?


s: But why a little soldier in an obsolete dress?


s: I'd rather see a Goddess with a spear, I confess.


s: Something allegorical and fine.  Why, yes--


s: I cannot take my eyes from him.  I don't know why at all.


s: What do you say?  There used to be an Emperor standing there,


s: With flowing robes and laurel crown.  Really?  Yet I declare


s: Those spiral battles round the shaft don't seem just his affair.


s: A togaed, laurelled man's I mean.  Now this chap seems to feel


s: As though he owned those soldiers.  Whew!  How he makes one reel,


s: Sweeping round the sky in an orbit like the sun's,


s: Flashing sparks like cannon-balls from his own long guns.


s: Perhaps my sight is tired, but that figure simply stuns.


s: How low the houses seem, and all the people are mere flies.


s: That fellow pokes his hat up till it scratches on the skies.


s: Impudent!  Audacious!  But, by Jove, he blinds the eyes!


s: In the shoulder of the worm is a teacher.


s: A dust speck in the worm's belly is a poet.


s: The eye of the serpent is an owner of mills.


s: Bankers, butchers, shop-keepers, painters, farmers--men, sway and


s: One!  Two!--One!  Two!--clump the heavy boots.  The cry hurtles


s: The room is damp, but warm.  Little flashes swarm about from the


s: The child wakes again and screams at the yellow petalled flower


s: Crack!  Rattle!  The sparks fly up the chimney.


s: overtripped, slipped out of line, with the little lead drumsticks


s: The china mandarin on the bookcase nods slowly, forward and


s: back--forward and back--and the red rose writhes and wriggles,


s: Tommy does not hear the song.  He only sees the beautiful, new,


s: Tommy catches his toe in the leg of the wash-stand, and jars the


s: When he heard bugles, and fifes, and drums,


s: He thought of red, and yellow, and white roses


s: Now what in the name of the sun and the stars


s: Is the meaning of this most unholy of wars?


s: Do men find life so full of humour and joy


s: That for want of excitement they smash up the toy?


s: Fifteen millions of soldiers with popguns and horses


s: All bent upon killing, because their "of courses"


s: Are not quite the same.  All these men by the ears,


s: And nine nations of women choking with tears.


s: It is folly to think that the will of a king


s: Can force men to make ducks and drakes of a thing


s: They value, and life is, at least one supposes,


s: Have not grown up between one foot and the other.


s: What a marvel bureaucracy is, which can smother


s: His legs and his arms at the word of command


s: Or the blow of a whistle!  He's certainly damned,


s: Fit only for mince-meat, if a little gold lace


s: And an upturned moustache can set him to face


s: Bullets, and bayonets, and death, and diseases,


s: Because some one he calls his Emperor, pleases.


s: If each man were to lay down his weapon, and say,


s: With a click of his heels, "I wish you Good-day,"


s: Now what, may I ask, could the Emperor do?


s: A king and his minions are really so few.


s: Angry?  Oh, of course, a most furious Emperor!


s: But the men are so many they need not mind his temper, or


s: The dire results which could not be inflicted.


s: With no one to execute sentence, convicted


s: Is just the weak wind from an old, broken bellows.


s: What lackeys men are, who might be such fine fellows!


s: At an order, as though one said, "Bring up the tea."


s: Or is it that tasting the blood on their jaws


s: They lap at it, drunk with its ferment, and laws


s: So patiently builded, are nothing to drinking


s: More blood, any blood.  They don't notice its stinking.


s: I don't suppose tigers do, fighting cocks, sparrows,


s: And, as to men--what are men, when their marrows


s: Are running with blood they have gulped; it is plain


s: Such excellent sport does not recollect pain.


s: Toll the bells in the steeples left standing.  Half-mast


s: The flags which meant order, for order is past.


s: Take the dust of the streets and sprinkle your head,


s: The civilization we've worked for is dead.


s: Squeeze into this archway, the head of the line


s: Has just swung round the corner to 'Die Wacht am Rhein'.


s: You want to know what's the matter with me, do yer?


s: It's a strain livin' a lie from mornin' till night,


s: An' I'm goin' to put an end to it right now.


s: An' don't make any mistake about one thing,


s: An' your kisses most stopped my heart from beatin'.


s: The baby's fever threw you off some, I guess,


s: An' a mopey wife kind o' disgusts a man.


s: I know I'm slow, but it's harder to say 'n I thought.


s: Watchin' the moon go clear through the elm-tree,


s: An' set in the chair you'd be'n settin' in,


s: While you was busy all day, and snorin' all night.


s: Do you mind the day you went to Hadrock?


s: 'Cause Elmer was comin' to see t' th' telephone.


s: An' you never see why I was so set on goin' with yer,


s: Our married life hadn't be'n any great shakes,


s: Still marriage is marriage, an' I was raised God-fearin'.


s: You went, you wouldn't pay no 'tention to what I said,


s: An' I heard the Ford chuggin' for most a mile,


s: Elmer fixed th' telephone in about two minits,


s: An' I don't know as I wanted him to go either,


s: I was awful mad at your not takin' me with yer,


s: I guess it ain't necessary to tell yer all the things.


s: Clost up to the things I'd be'n thinkin',


s: You can kill me to-morrer if you want to,


s: Funny thing!  Guess I ain't made to hold a man.


s: Elmer ain't be'n here for mor'n two months.


s: To look at a woman that's deceived yer by?


s: Don't, Jake, don't, you can't love me now!


s: Why!  I'd be thinkin' o' Elmer ev'ry minute;


s: Oh, my God!  It ain't decent any more either way!


s: I'm stoppin' over to French's fer to-night,


s: And goin' down first train in th' mornin'.


s: Not to be goin' to see Cherry's Orchard no more,


s: But Land Sakes!  When a change's comin',


s: Why, I al'ays say it can't come too quick.


s: She's married to a fine man, hardware business,


s: Lizzie's be'n at me to go out ther for the longest while.


s: She ain't got no kith nor kin to Chicago, you know


s: She's rented me a real nice little flat,


s: An' I'm goin' to try that city livin' folks say's so pleasant.


s: Paid me a sight o' money fer the Orchard;


s: I told him 'twouldn't yield nothin' but stones,


s: He's jest took it to set and look at the view.


s: Mebbe he wouldn't be so stuck on the view


s: Ef he'd seed it every mornin' and night for forty year


s: But I ain't a mite sorry to leave that view.


s: Old things ain't always pleasant things, Mis' Priest.


s: No, no, I don't cal'late on comin' back,


s: Mis' Priest, ef you've nothin' ter take yer time,


s: Ther's somethin' I'd like ter speak about


s: An' that fire's real cosy with the shades drawed.


s: Well, the reason is I've be'n scared out o' my life.


s: Scared ev'ry minit o' th' time, fer eight year.


s: Barrin' low sperrits, I warn't averse to seein' nobody.


s: But that eighteenth o' June changed ev'rythin'.


s: I was doin' most o' th' farmwork myself,


s: With jest a hired boy, Clarence King, 'twas,


s: Lockin' up and seein' to things 'fore I went to bed.


s: Goin' round outside 'stead o' through the shed,


s: 'Cause there was such a sight o' moonlight


s: Somehow or another I thought 'twould be pretty outdoors.


s: I got settled for pretty things that night, I guess.


s: Well, them laylock bushes side o' th' house


s: Glitt'rin' and shakin' in the moonlight,


s: The colour o' the spikes was all faded out,


s: They never keep their colour when the moon's on 'em,


s: So's to put my face right into a flower.


s: Mis' Priest, jest's I got breathin' in that laylock bloom


s: It was as white's the side o' th' house,


s: And sparklin' like that lum'nous paint they put on gate-posts.


s: Scared me so, I dar'sn't scream any more.


s: I thought the echo'd begin to hammer like my heart,


s: After a while I got to thinkin' that o' course


s: 'Twas some drunken tramp over from Redfield.


s: An' I commenced to think I'd better git him out


s: An' lock him in ther till Clarence come in th' mornin'.


s: I got so mad thinkin' o' that all-fired brazen tramp


s: Mis' Priest, ther warn't no body come with the hand.


s: No, it ain't cold, it's jest that I can't abear thinkin' of it,


s: I dropped the hand's ef it'd be'n red hot


s: Fer a minit or two I jest laid on that grass


s: But I wanted to git that dret'ful hand out o' sight


s: Besides, the moonlight was bright enough in all conscience.


s: It slid off, and tipped over, and I couldn't bear


s: Ev'n to touch it with my foot to prop it,


s: I don't rec'lect nothin' more o' that night.


s: Hollerin' fer me to come down and set th' milk.


s: Fear Clarence would notice and ask me what I wanted 'em fer,


s: So I got teeny bits o' turf here and ther,


s: And no one couldn't tell ther'd be'n any diggin'


s: They was awful days after that, Mis' Priest,


s: I used ter go every mornin' and poke about them bushes,


s: Ter find the body that hand come off of.


s: Hearin' them laylocks blowin' and whiskin'.


s: I fretted somethin' awful 'bout that hand


s: But folks don't rob graveyards hereabouts.


s: Besides, Hiram's hands warn't that awful, starin' white.


s: But mebbe now you'll see I couldn't do nothin' diff'rent.


s: By no loose hand, no matter how it come ther


s: Two year ago, Mr. Densmore made me an offer for Cherry's Orchard.


s: I'd kinder got used to th' thought o' that awful night,


s: Only I never went out o' doors by moonlight;


s: An' all the things that had gone on ther.


s: Thinks I, I guess I'll go and see where I put the hand.


s: I was foolhardy with the long time that had gone by.


s: Fer I'd put it right in between two o' the apple roots.


s: I don't know what possessed me, Mis' Priest,


s: That the hand had been flesh and bone, anyway.


s: It had sorter bothered me, thinkin' I might ha' imagined it.


s: I took a mornin' when the sun was real pleasant and warm;


s: I guessed I wouldn't jump for a few old bones.


s: Not ev'n the gold ring I'd minded bein' on the little finger.


s: I be'n diggin' and diggin' day in and day out


s: Oh, I know'd real well what you all thought,


s: But I ain't goin' to end in no county 'sylum


s: The shiv'rin' fits come on me sudden like.


s: I've fretted considerable about the 'sylum,


s: I guess I be'n frettin' all the time I ain't be'n diggin'.


s: But anyhow I can't dig to Chicago, can I?


s: I'm better now.  I only dropped in in passin'.


s: I'll jest be steppin' along down to French's.


s: No, I won't be seein' nobody in the mornin',


s: An' I c'n see easy, I got aholt o' the gate now.


s: A lot o' good the Senate'll be to Father


s: "I dunno as that makes 'em taste any diff'rent.


s: You ain't fair to me, Alice, 'deed you ain't.


s: I'll get a carpenterin' job next Summer sure.


s: Cleve was tellin' me to-day he'd take me on come Spring."


s: "It riles yer, don't it, me not havin' work.


s: You pick an' pick, and that don't help a mite.


s: Say, Alice, do come in out o' that winder.


s: They look good in pyramids with the 'lectric light on 'em,


s: "He'd have a plenty, if you folks paid him."


s: I never figured he'd be close with you."


s: I guess the sun'll never rise on some day."


s: 'Cause I ain't got the cash to settle right now.


s: "You've said that any time these five year,


s: "Have yer forgot the time I went expressin'


s: I'm a sight too light fer all that liftin' work.


s: My back was commencin' to strain, as 'twas.


s: "Do you call it luck to be a disgrace to your folks,


s: Swellin' round in Hart, Schaffner & Marx fancy suits,


s: But somebody's got to stick to the old place,


s: But I wanted to git away 'fore I proved it.


s: I'll see Cleve 'bout that job agin to-morrer,


s: And we'll be married 'fore hayin' time."


s: "It's like you to remind me o' hayin' time.


s: Many's the night I've hid my face in the dark


s: Why ain't it yesterday, and Ed here agin?


s: Many's the time I've set up with him nights


s: When he had cramps, or rheumatizm, or somethin'.


s: I used ter nurse him same's ef he was a baby.


s: Don't you dare to say I killed him.  'Twarn't me!


s: Somethin' got aholt o' me.  I couldn't help it.


s: No, Sir, ther ain't no extenuatin' circumstances,


s: You can't even guess what that silence was.


s: Measurin' after you'd got out o' our lane.


s: Was clear way 'tother side the mountain.


s: Ther was a cart-track took yer to Dane's in Summer,


s: Seem's ef I couldn't abear to see the golden-rod bloomin';


s: You don't know what snow's like when yer with it


s: Till it warn't white any more, but black as ink.


s: Then the quiet 'ud commence rushin' past my ears


s: Many's the time I've dropped a pan on the floor


s: I was most frantic when dinner-time come


s: But he'd never say a word till I asked him


s: Did he like the raised biscuits or whatever,


s: An' then sometimes he'd jest nod his answer.


s: An' I'd watch him from the kitchin winder.


s: It seemed the woods come marchin' out to meet him


s: An' the trees 'ud press round him an' hustle him.


s: Though in Summer I liked 'em well enough.


s: It warn't so bad when my little boy was with us.


s: An' every day his father fetched him to school in the pung


s: An' then he went up to Boston to Technology.


s: But his very first position ther was an explosion in the mine.


s: I thought ef I felt the whisperin' comin' on


s: An' he never understood me wantin' to talk.


s: Well, this year was worse'n all the others;


s: We had a terrible spell o' stormy weather,


s: Out o' doors was as flat as the palm o' my hand,


s: The snappin' o' the branches back in the wood-lot


s: He didn't even say 'Good-mornin'', once or twice,


s: An' jest nodded or shook his head when I asked him things.


s: On Monday he said he'd got to go over to Benton


s: An' I was afeared the fine weather'd break,


s: I can't tell you what that day was to me.


s: Fer ther warn't no Ed ter break it in the middle


s: Once I threw up the winder to feel the wind.


s: But the woods looked so kind of menacin'


s: An' I run out through the shed inter th' barn


s: But most o' th' time he didn't do nothin'.


s: I can't see nothin' else afore me all the time.


s: An' all the time I was wadin' through the snow


s: Mr. Spruggins had been dining in the city,


s: Mr. Spruggins was none too steady in his gait,


s: And the wind played ball with Mr. Spruggins


s: With his little feet pit-a-patting on the flags of the sidewalk,


s: And his muffler and his coat-tails blown straight out behind him.


s: And chuckled in his ear when he said "Ouch!"


s: Sometimes it lifted him clear off his little patting feet


s: And bore him in triumph over three grey flagstones and a quarter.


s: It was all very unpleasant for Mr. Spruggins,


s: And when the wind flung him hard against his own front door


s: Although the breath was quite knocked out of him.


s: The gas-lamp in front of the house flared up,


s: And the keyhole was as big as a barn door;


s: The gas-lamp flickered away to a sputtering blue star,


s: And Mr. Spruggins blew through it into his own hall


s: That the knocker banged five times before it stopped.


s: Mr. Spruggins struck a light and lit a candle,


s: And all the time the moon winked at him through the window.


s: "Why couldn't you find the keyhole, Spruggins?"


s: The fire in his bedroom burned brightly.


s: The room with its crimson bed and window curtains


s: There was no wind here, for the windows were fastened;


s: The candle flame stood up like a pointed pear


s: Mr. Spruggins slipped off his top-coat and his muffler.


s: And tied a peaked night-cap under his chin.


s: Then he tiptoed over to the window and pulled back the curtain.


s: There was the moon dodging in and out of the clouds;


s: There was the wind whisking along the street.


s: The window rattled, but it was fastened.


s: All Mr. Spruggins heard was "S-s-s-s-s--"


s: He dropped the curtain and got into bed.


s: Martha had been in the last thing with the warming-pan;


s: With the familiar ticking of his watch just under his head.


s: But it did not make much difference as the fire was so bright...


s: The red and yellow roses pricked his eyelids,


s: They scorched him back to consciousness.


s: The curtains of the window were flung back,


s: And the room was filled with green moonlight.


s: Solemnly dropping one eyelid after the other.


s: Tick--tock--went the watch under his pillow,


s: Wink--wink--went the face at the window.


s: It was not the fire roses which had pricked him,


s: His mustachios kept curling up and down like angry snakes,


s: With the pupils coming into sight, and disappearing,


s: The holsters at his saddle-bow were two port bottles,


s: And a curved table-knife hung at his belt for a scimitar,


s: And stamped its cloven feet deeper into Mr. Spruggins.


s: Then the green light on the floor began to undulate.


s: Suddenly the window fell in with a great scatter of glass,


s: And plunged it into Mr. Spruggins's mouth.


s: By the light which seeped in under the window curtains,


s: splendour.  There were wheels and wheels of colours--big, little,


s: A music-stand of crimson lacquer, long since brought


s: In some fast clipper-ship from China, quaintly wrought


s: With bossed and carven flowers and fruits in blackening gold,


s: The slender shaft all twined about and thickly scrolled


s: With vine leaves and young twisted tendrils, whirling, curling,


s: Flinging their new shoots over the four wings, and swirling


s: Out on the three wide feet in golden lumps and streams;


s: Petals and apples in high relief, and where the seams


s: Are worn with handling, through the polished crimson sheen,


s: Long streaks of black, the under lacquer, shine out clean.


s: Four desks, adjustable, to suit the heights of players


s: Sitting to viols or standing up to sing, four layers


s: Of music to serve every instrument, are there,


s: And on the apex a large flat-topped golden pear.


s: It burns in red and yellow, dusty, smouldering lights,


s: When the sun flares the old barn-chamber with its flights


s: And skips upon the crystal knobs of dim sideboards,


s: Legless and mouldy, and hops, glint to glint, on hoards


s: Are little candles throwing brightness round in pools.


s: With Oriental splendour, red and gold, the dust


s: Covering its flames like smoke and thinning as a gust


s: Of brighter sunshine makes the colours leap and range,


s: The strange old music-stand seems to strike out and change;


s: To stroke and tear the darkness with sharp golden claws;


s: To dart a forked, vermilion tongue from open jaws;


s: To puff out bitter smoke which chokes the sun; and fade


s: Back to a still, faint outline obliterate in shade.


s: Creeping up the ladder into the loft, the Boy


s: Stands watching, very still, prickly and hot with joy.


s: He sees the dusty sun-mote slit by streaks of red,


s: He sees it split and stream, and all about his head


s: Spikes and spears of gold are licking, pricking, flicking,


s: Scratching against the walls and furniture, and nicking


s: The darkness into sparks, chipping away the gloom.


s: The Boy's nose smarts with the pungence in the room.


s: The wind pushes an elm branch from before the door


s: And the sun widens out all along the floor,


s: Filling the barn-chamber with white, straightforward light,


s: So not one blurred outline can tease the mind to fright.


s: The Boy will praise his God on an altar builded fair,


s: Will heap it with the Works of the Lord.  In the morning air,


s: Spices shall burn on it, and by their pale smoke curled,


s: Like shoots of all the Green Things, the God of this bright World


s: The Boy turns round about, seeking with careful gaze


s: An altar meet and worthy, but each table and chair


s: Has some defect, each piece is needing some repair


s: To perfect it; the chairs have broken legs and backs,


s: The tables are uneven, and every highboy lacks


s: A handle or a drawer, the desks are bruised and worn,


s: And even a wide sofa has its cane seat torn.


s: Only in the gloom far in the corner there


s: The lacquer music-stand is elegant and rare,


s: Clear and slim of line, with its four wings outspread,


s: The sound of old quartets, a tenuous, faint thread,


s: Hanging and floating over it, it stands supreme--


s: Black, and gold, and crimson, in one twisted scheme!


s: A candle on the bookcase feels a draught and wavers,


s: Stippling the white-washed walls with dancing shades and quavers.


s: And shadows, strangely altered, stain the walls, revealing


s: Eagles, and rabbits, and weird faces pulled awry,


s: And hands which fetch and carry things incessantly.


s: Under the Eastern window, where the morning sun


s: Must touch it, stands the music-stand, and on each one


s: Of its broad platforms is a pyramid of stones,


s: And metals, and dried flowers, and pine and hemlock cones,


s: An oriole's nest with the four eggs neatly blown,


s: The rattle of a rattlesnake, and three large brown


s: Butternuts uncracked, six butterflies impaled


s: With a green luna moth, a snake-skin freshly scaled,


s: Some sunflower seeds, wampum, and a bloody-tooth shell,


s: A blue jay feather, all together piled pell-mell


s: The stand will hold no more.  The Boy with humming head


s: Looks once again, blows out the light, and creeps to bed.


s: The Boy keeps solemn vigil, while outside the wind


s: Blows gustily and clear, and slaps against the blind.


s: He hardly tries to sleep, so sharp his ecstasy


s: It burns his soul to emptiness, and sets it free


s: For adoration only, for worship.  Dedicate,


s: His unsheathed soul is naked in its novitiate.


s: The hours strike below from the clock on the stair.


s: The Boy is a white flame suspiring in prayer.


s: Morning will bring the sun, the Golden Eye of Him


s: Whose splendour must be veiled by starry cherubim,


s: Whose Feet shimmer like crystal in the streets of Heaven.


s: Like an open rose the sun will stand up even,


s: Fronting the window-sill, and when the casement glows


s: Rose-red with the new-blown morning, then the fire which flows


s: From the sun will fall upon the altar and ignite


s: The spices, and his sacrifice will burn in perfumed light.


s: Over the music-stand the ghosts of sounds will swim,


s: 'Viols d'amore' and 'hautbois' accorded to a hymn.


s: The Boy will see the faintest breath of angels' wings


s: Fanning the smoke, and voices will flower through the strings.


s: He dares no farther vision, and with scalding eyes


s: Waits upon the daylight and his great emprise.


s: The cold, grey light of dawn was whitening the wall


s: When the Boy, fine-drawn by sleeplessness, started his ritual.


s: He washed, all shivering and pointed like a flame.


s: He threw the shutters open, and in the window-frame


s: The morning glimmered like a tarnished Venice glass.


s: He took his Chinese pastilles and put them in a mass


s: Upon the mantelpiece till he could seek a plate


s: Worthy to hold them burning.  Alas!  He had been late


s: In thinking of this need, and now he could not find


s: Platter or saucer rare enough to ease his mind.


s: The house was not astir, and he dared not go down


s: Into the barn-chamber, lest some door should be blown


s: And slam before the draught he made as he went out.


s: The light was growing yellower, and still he looked about.


s: A flash of almost crimson from the gilded pear


s: Upon the music-stand, startled him waiting there.


s: The sun would rise and he would meet it unprepared,


s: Labelled a fool in having missed what he had dared.


s: He ran across the room, took his pastilles and laid


s: Them on the flat-topped pear, most carefully displayed


s: To light with ease, then stood a little to one side,


s: Focussed a burning-glass and painstakingly tried


s: To hold it angled so the bunched and prismed rays


s: Should leap upon each other and spring into a blaze.


s: Sharp as a wheeling edge of disked, carnation flame,


s: Gem-hard and cutting upward, slowly the round sun came.


s: The arrowed fire caught the burning-glass and glanced,


s: Split to a multitude of pointed spears, and lanced,


s: A deeper, hotter flame, it took the incense pile


s: Which welcomed it and broke into a little smile


s: Of yellow flamelets, creeping, crackling, thrusting up,


s: A golden, red-slashed lily in a lacquer cup.


s: A moment so it hung, wide-curved, bright-petalled, seeming


s: A chalice foamed with sunrise.  The Boy woke from his dreaming.


s: A spike of flame had caught the card of butterflies,


s: The oriole's nest took fire, soon all four galleries


s: Where he had spread his treasures were become one tongue


s: Of gleaming, brutal fire.  The Boy instantly swung


s: His pitcher off the wash-stand and turned it upside down.


s: The flames drooped back and sizzled, and all his senses grown


s: Acute by fear, the Boy grabbed the quilt from his bed


s: And flung it over all, and then with aching head


s: He watched the early sunshine glint on the remains


s: Of his holy offering.  The lacquer stand had stains


s: Ugly and charred all over, and where the golden pear


s: Had been, a deep, black hole gaped miserably.  His dear


s: Treasures were puffs of ashes; only the stones were there,


s: Struck five, and in the kitchen someone shook a grate.


s: The Boy began to dress, for it was getting late.


s: A motor-car cuts a swathe through the bright air, sharp-beaked,


s: The blue sky pales to lemon, and great tongues of gold blind the


s: shop-windows, putting out their contents in a flood of flame.


s: With their wine-glasses delicately poised,


s: Mocking at the thing they cannot understand.