A stranger she, who fearless named that cause,
A breach in love’s and honour’s sacred laws. 100
“In a far country, Lady, bleak and wild,
Report has reach’d me: how art thou beguiled!
Or dared he tell thee, that for ten sad years
He saw me struggling with fond hopes and fears?
“From my dear home he won me, blest and free,
To be his victim.”——“Madam, who is he?”
“Not yet thy husband, Lady; no! not yet;
For he has first to pay a mighty debt.”