Page:Poems by William Wordsworth (1815) Volume 1.djvu/273

213 Was summoned to discharge the forfeiture,

A grievous penalty, but little less

Than half his substance. This unlooked-for claim,

At the first hearing, for a moment took

More hope out of his life than he supposed

That any old man ever could have lost.

As soon as he had gathered so much strength

That he could look his trouble in the face,

It seemed that his sole refuge was to sell

A portion of his patrimonial fields.

Such was his first resolve; he thought again,

And his heart failed him. "Isabel," said he,

Two evenings after he had heard the news,

"I have been toiling more than seventy years,

And in the open sunshine of God's love

Have we all lived; yet if these fields of ours

Should pass into a Stranger's hand, I think

That I could not lie quiet in my grave.

Our lot is a hard lot; the Sun itself

Has scarcely been more diligent than I,

And I have lived to be a fool at last

To my own family. An evil Man

That was, and made an evil choice, if he

Were false to us; and, if he were not false,