Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 1).pdf/394



Upon the eldest aunt's suggestion, yes; She much preferred a place as governess—

But of all this I never heard a word!

[smiling].

No wonder; they took care that none was heard. They trembled at the risk "my future" ran If this were whispered to unmarried Man.

[''after gazing a moment at her in meditative sympathy''].

That such must be your lot I long had guessed. When first I met you, I can well recall, You seemed to me quite other than the rest, Beyond the comprehension of them all. They sat at table,—fragrant tea a-brewing, And small-talk humming with the tea in tune, The young girls blushing and the young men cooing, Like pigeons on a sultry afternoon. Old maids and matrons volubly averred Morality and faith's supreme felicity, Young wives were loud in praise of domesticity, While you stood lonely like a mateless bird. And when at last the gabbling clamour rose To a tea-orgy, a debauch of prose, You seemed a piece of silver, newly minted, Among foul notes and coppers dulled and dinted.