As though it heard the stag-hound’s distant bark.
The wistful Prince with loitering purpose bode,
And thought how good it were to spend one’s life
Far off from men, nor jostled with their strife.
Even as he mused he saw his host ahead,
Speeding to welcome him, in lordly wont,
And all the household in a line bestead;
And lightly with that escort, at the front,
A peerless woman rode across the green;
Then the Prince thought, “It surely is the Queen,