Page:Poems of Sentiment and Imagination.djvu/124

120 How they fondly loved each other as a sister and a brother—

And the rumor was, that Louis was betrothed the day before

To a very lovely lady, chosen for him by his mother:

Here, she said, "down dropped her mistress, and lay prone upon the floor."

Then she went on to say further, how they raised her up, and laid her

On her couch, and summoned leeches, and how long she lay in swoon;

And how, when they found her living, the physician's potion made her

To lie in a deathlike stupor since before the stroke of noon.

But enough had now been told him, and he turned and bent once lowly

O'er the pillow of his darling, till his lips had touched her brow;

Then went straightway out in silence, looking grave and treading slowly:

On that moment he had taken before God a solemn vow!

On that same night, by the river, a young noble walked in sorrow,

Cursing bitterly the destiny for which he had been born;

Cursing, too, the young Duke Gascon, who, before the world, tomorrow

Would espouse, in first betrothal, the sweet Countess Delaimorn.

His beloved—his own heart's idol—she whose soul, so true and tender,

Long ago to him was given—they would sell her hand for gold!

Oh! he cursed the wretched barter! and swore wildly to defend her

With his good sword at the altar—but he would not see her sold!

Thus he raved, upbraiding Heaven—and his ancestors upbraiding,

That the scion of their princely house was heir of wealth so mean;

That he—a duke, too—must endure a grievance so degrading

As that an equal should intrude he and his love between.