Page:The songs that Quinte sang.djvu/67

Rh That is meant for a Prince of Royal Race?” And they shut the door in the stranger’s face.

Then they all went back to the banquet room, And they waited long for the King to come; And the lights burned dim as the night wore on, And hope from their bosoms was almost gone, And they said at the first, faint gleam of day: “Surely the King has lost His way. Let us go forth with willing feet Through every by-way and every street; Let us hasten before it is too late, And show Him the way to the palace gate.”

So all that day, with willing feet They searched through the crowded city street For a Kingly Stranger, but all in vain; And their tears fell fast like the summer rain And their sorrow was deep as well as loud, For they loved their King, but their hearts were proud.

They found Him when day was almost o’er, ’Mid the humble homes of the toiling poor. With a worshiping crowd around Him pressed, In glad amaze, He had stripped His breast Of the royal mantle, and wrapped it ’round A shivering outcast of the town, Whilst closely clasped to His sheltering breast A baby slumbered in peaceful rest— A poor little babe, a child of sin, With the brand of shame on its features thin, Whilst the jeweled crown that had graced His head He had given the poor, to sell for bread.