And the duke bowed and left the room, nor did Marguerite attempt to retain him.
In the antechamber he found Gillonne, who guided him to the window on the ground floor, and in the fosse he found his page, with whom he returned to the Hôtel de Guise.
Marguerite, in a dreamy mood, went to the opened window.
"What a marriage night!" she murmured to herself; "the husband flees from me—the lover forsakes me!"
At that moment, coming from the Tour de Bois, and going up toward the Moulin de la Monnaie, on the other side of the fosse passed a student, his hand on his hip, and singing:
| "SONG. |
| "Tell me why, O maiden fair, |
| When I burn to bite thy hair, |
| And to kiss thy rosy lips, |
| And to touch thy lovely breast, |
| Like a nun thou feign'st thee blest |
| In the cloister's sad eclipse? |
| "Who will win the precious prize |
| Of thy brow, thy mouth, thine eyes— |
| Of thy bosom sweet—what lover? |
| Wilt thou all thy charms devote |
| To grim Pluton when the boat |
| Charon rows shall take thee over? |
| "After thou hast sailed across, |
| Loveliest, then wilt find but loss— |
| All thy beauty will decay. |
| When I die and meet thee there |
| In the shades I'll never swear |
| Thou wert once my mistress gay! |
| "Therefore, darling, while we live, |
| Change thy mind and tokens give— |
| Kisses from thy honey mouth! |
| Else when thou art like to die |
| Thou ’lt repent thy cruelty, |
| Filling all my life with drouth!" |
Marguerite listened with a melancholy smile; then when the student's voice was lost in the distance, she shut the window, and called Gillonne to help her to prepare for bed.