Page:Captain Craig; a book of poems.djvu/165

Rh ’T would be a scurrilous way out If we should leave them in the lurch.

"That's why I have you here with me To-night: you know a talk may take The place of bromide, cyanide, Et cetera. For heaven's sake,

"Why do you look at me like that? What have I done to freeze you so? Dear man, you see where friendship means A few things yet that you don't know;

"And you see partly why it is That I am glad for what is gone: For Sainte-Nitouche and for the world In me that followed. What lives on—

"Well, here you have it: here at home— For even home will yet return. You know the truth is on my side, And that will make the embers burn.

"I see them brighten while I speak, I see them flash,—and they are mine! You do not know them, but I do: I know the way they used to shine.