Page:The Excursion, Wordsworth, 1814.djvu/106

80 Like a ripe date which in the desartdesert [sic] falls

Without a hand to gather it." At this

I interposed, though loth to speak, and said,

"Can it be thus among so small a band

As ye must needs be here? in such a place

I would not willingly, methinks, lose sight

Of a departing cloud."—"Twas not for love"—

Answered the sick man with a careless voice—

"That I came hither; neither have I found

Among Associates who have power of speech,

Nor in such other converse as is here,

Temptation so prevailing as to change

That mood, or undermine my first resolve."—

Then, speaking in like careless sort, he said

To my benign Companion,—"Pity 'tis

That fortune did not guide you to this house

A few days earlier; then would you have seen

What stuff the Dwellers in this Solitude,

(That seems by Nature framed to be the seat

And very bosom of pure innocence)

Are made of; an ungracious matter this!

Which for truth's sake, yet in remembrance too

Of past discussions with this zealous Friend