Page:Hichens - The Green Carnation.djvu/83

Rh Lest my wayward heart should fail
 * In the homage it fain would bestow—

Oh! beautiful moon with the ghostly face,
 * Oh! moon with the brows of snow.

Oh! beautiful mouth like a scarlet flow'r,
 * Oh! mouth with the wild, soft breath,

Kiss close, kiss close in the dream-stricken bow'r,
 * And whisper away the world;

Till the wayward wings are furled,
 * And the shadow is lifted from death—

Oh! beautiful mouth like a scarlet flow'r,
 * Oh! mouth with the wild, soft breath!

Oh! beautiful soul with the outstretched hands,
 * Oh! soul with the yearning eyes,

Lie still, lie still in the fairy lands
 * Where never a tear may fall;

Where no voices ever call
 * Any passion-act, strange or unwise—

Oh! beautiful soul with the outstretched hands,
 * Oh! soul with the yearning eyes!

The song was uttered with so much apparent passion that Lady Locke felt tears standing in her eyes when the last words ceased on the cool air of the night.

"How beautiful," she said involuntarily to Lord Reggie, who happened to be standing beside her. "And how wrong!"

"Surely that is a contradiction in terms," the boy said. "Nothing that is beautiful can possibly be wrong."

"Then how exquisitely right some women