THE NOBLE LADY'S TALE

“We moved with pensive paces,

I and he,

And bent our faded faces

Wistfully,

For something troubled him, and troubled me.

“The lanthorn feebly lightened

Our grey hall,

Where ancient brands had brightened

Hearth and wall,

And shapes long vanished whither vanish all.

“‘ O why, Love, nightly, daily,’

I had said,

‘ Dost sigh, and smile so palely,

As if shed

Were all Life's blossoms, all its dear things dead?’

“‘ Since silence sets thee grieving,’

He replied,

‘ And I abhor deceiving

One so tried,

Why, Love, I'll speak, ere time us twain divide.’

“He held me, I remember,

Just as when

Our life was June — ( September

It was then );

And we walked on, until he spoke again.

“‘ Susie, an Irish mummer,

Loud-acclaimed

Through the gay London summer,

Was I; named

A master in my art, who would be famed.

“‘ But lo, there beamed before me

Lady Su;

God's altar-vow she swore me

When none knew,

And for her sake I bade the sock adieu.

“‘ My Lord your father's pardon

Thus I won:

He let his heart unharden

Towards his son,

And honourably condoned what we had done;

“‘ But said — recall you, dearest? -

As for Su,

I'd see her — ay, though nearest

Me unto -

Sooner entombed than in a stage purlieu!

“‘ Just so.— And here he housed us,

In this nook,

Where Love like balm has drowsed us:

Robin, rook,

Our chief familiars, next to string and book.

“‘ Our days here, peace-enshrouded,

Followed strange

The old stage-joyance, crowded,

Rich in range;

But never did my soul desire a change,

“‘ Till now, when far uncertain

Lips of yore

Call, call me to the curtain,

There once more,

But ONCE, to tread the boards I trod before.

“‘ A night — the last and single

Ere I die -

To face the lights, to mingle

As did I

Once in the game, and rivet every eye!’

“‘ To something drear, distressing

As the knell

Of all hopes worth possessing!’...

— What befell

Seemed linked with me, but how I could not tell.

“Hours passed; till I implored him,

As he knew

How faith and frankness toward him

Ruled me through,

To say what ill I had done, and could undo.

“‘ FAITH — FRANKNESS. Ah! Heaven save such!’

Murmured he,

‘ They are wedded wealth! I gave such

Liberally,

But you, Dear, not. For you suspected me.’

“I was about beseeching

In hurt haste

More meaning, when he, reaching

To my waist,

Led me to pace the hall as once we paced.

“‘ I never meant to draw you

To own all,’

Declared he.‘ But — I SAW you -

By the wall,

Half-hid. And that was why I failed withal!’

“‘ Where? when?’ said I —‘ Why, nigh me,

At the play

That night. That you should spy me,

Doubt my fay,

And follow, furtive, took my heart away!’

“That I had never been there,

But had gone

To my locked room — unseen there,

Curtains drawn,

Long days abiding — told I, wonder-wan.

“‘ Nay,‘ twas your form and vesture,

Cloak and gown,

Your hooded features — gesture

Half in frown,

That faced me, pale,’ he urged,‘ that night in town.

“‘ And when, outside, I handed

To her chair

( As courtesy demanded

Of me there )

The leading lady, you peeped from the stair.

“Straight pleaded I:‘ Forsooth, Love,

Had I gone,

I must have been in truth, Love,

Mad to don

Such well-known raiment.’ But he still went on

“That he was not mistaken

Nor misled. -

I felt like one forsaken,

Wished me dead,

That he could think thus of the wife he had wed!

“His going seemed to waste him

Like a curse,

To wreck what once had graced him;

And, averse

To my approach, he mused, and moped, and worse.

“Till, what no words effected

Thought achieved:

IT WAS MY WRAITH — projected,

He conceived,

Thither, by my tense brain at home aggrieved.

“Thereon his credence centred

Till he died;

And, no more tempted, entered

Sanctified,

The little vault with room for one beside.”

Thus far the lady's story. -

Now she, too,

Reclines within that hoary

Last dark mew

In Mellstock Quire with him she loved so true.

A yellowing marble, placed there

Tablet-wise,

And two joined hearts enchased there

Meet the eyes;

And reading their twin names we moralize:

Did she, we wonder, follow

Jealously?

And were those protests hollow? -

Or saw he

Some semblant dame? Or can wraiths really be?

Were it she went, her honour,

All may hold,

Pressed truth at last upon her

Till she told -

( Him only — others as these lines unfold. )

Riddle death-sealed for ever,

Let it rest!...

One's heart could blame her never

If one guessed

That go she did. She knew her actor best.