Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/97

Rh I rushed to Jones, the lively Jones,
 * And begged him to escort her.

Vainly he strove, with ready wit,
 * To joke about the weather—

To ventilate the last on dit—
 * To quote the price of leather—

She groaned "Here I and Sorrow sit:
 * Let us lament together!"

I urged "You're wasting time, you know:
 * Delay will spoil the venison."

"My heart is wasted with my woe!
 * There is no rest—in Venice, on

The Bridge of Sighs!" she quoted low
 * From Byron and from Tennyson.

I need not tell of soup and fish
 * In solemn silence swallowed,

The sobs that ushered in each dish,
 * And its departure followed,

Nor yet my suicidal wish
 * To be the cheese I hollowed.