Page:Pictures In Rhyme.djvu/57

Rh I forced the case, and peered within— It seemed like sacrilege to win Your secrets dust-encrusted. Then I undid, with reverent hands, A parcel from its swathing-bands Of ribbon, rusted.

From the split, yellow folds there fell An agate seal—a rose as well, Half-dust, half-wilted; Some letters writ on paper thin; Then, last, a miniature within A sachet, quilted.

Painted by hand of Cosway, too! A gracious lady, robed in blue, Dark-eyed, with ringlets raven, In a broad rim of garnets set; 'S.C.' beneath a coronet, At back engraven.

Who was the dainty dame? Is this A record of forbidden bliss? Was she another's?