Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/300

 294 FORGIVE HER? NO, NEVER!

She looked kind o pitiful at me ;

&quot;Oh, father, I ve promised,&quot; she said, And left me. Along through the orchard

I saw the bent-down yaller head ; I saw her go wanderin further ;

I knew well enough where she went, For her mother lies buried off yonder,

The way that her footsteps was bent. An she come when the dew was a-fallin

Apast me, with never a word ; But out at her own little window

A pitiful sobbin I heard.



Well, after that, all through the summer,

She seemed kind o solemn and shy ; She said nothin more of her lover,

And nothin about him said I. Last night, when the milkin was over,

An I sat by the stoop all alone, Little Nancy came softly beside me,

And took my old hand in her own.

Her face was as red as the roses, I know now she tried to confess

That her mind was made up to the weddin , But she hadn t the courage, I guess.

Well, sir, when I called in the mornin No sleepy &quot; Yes, father,&quot; I heard ;

I opened the door of her chamber, And pillow and blanket wa n t stirred.

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