Page:The story of Saville - told in numbers.djvu/85

 That biddeth her eat and cover her limbs and maketh a decent pretense To veil with chatter or shroud with silence the shame of her ignorance dense,— She may have a lupine and viperish soul, disintegrate with disease, Fibrous and pulpy with poison, a pestilence spoiling the breeze,— ’Tis a pitiful comment on this our life that a woman may have all these, And yet for her royal favor a man will sue on his knees, Dazzled so blind by her beautiful face that never a fault he sees! If ever a woman on earth might hope to be worshipped for mind alone, Or heart or soul, ’twas Saville, who was worthy the love of a prince to have known,— But ah! ’tis impossible—nature revolts—men may sin against God on high, But not ’gainst the law of selection; however they truckle and lie And successfully feign, they cannot love a thing from which love must fly,— Poor girl! she had seen in pauper’s hovels where she was dispensing bread 81