Page:Wessex poems and other verses (IA wessexpoemsother00hard).pdf/193

 —"But, Mistress Damon—I can swear Thy goodman John is dead! And soon th'lt hear their feet who bear His body to his bed."

So unwontedly sad the merry man's face— That face which had long deceived— That she gazed and gazed; and then could trace The truth there; and she believed.

She laid a hand on the dresser-ledge, And scanned far Egdon-side; And stood; and you heard the wind-swept sedge And the rippling Froom; till she cried:

"O my chamber's untidied, unmade my bed, Though the day has begun to wear! 'What a slovenly hussif!' it will be said, When they all go up my stair!"