And he had sinn’d, so sorely, sorely sinn’d:—
How could one thus defame the Church and priest?
And did my love for him suggest such words,
Or should my love hereafter sanction them,
Might not his wrong prove mine?—If I should yield,
Be won by his unbridled words, might not
My act confirm his trust in thought uncheck’d?
And thought uncheck’d,—it oft more danger fronts
Than does the uncheck’d steed, whose frenzied flight
Defies the rein, and, dashing down a road