Then ask excuse, and, laughing, walk away:
When, as he entered, Cecil ceased to read,
He would exclaim, “Proceed, my friend, proceed!”
Or, sometimes weary, would to bed retire,
And fear and anger by his ease inspire.
“My conversation does he then despise?
Leaves he this slighted face for other eyes?” 570
So said Alicia; and she dwelt so long
Upon that thought, to leave her was to wrong.
Alas! the woman loved the soothing tongue,