But only to say so seem'd like a sin):
'He is not within'; and I shook my head,
And while I yet spoke the men were within.
They did not appear to wish to intrude;
They did not attempt to frighten me now;
They did not push by me; they were not rude;—
But somehow they enter'd—I know not how.
'It's no use trying to 'ide 'im, my dear,'
Said one, in a really fatherly way;
'In course we knows that the gen'leman's 'ere;