XII.
My face flamed hot as if its veil of flesh
Would burn, and bare the soul, to show I meant
No rudeness. Elbert’s keen-eyed sister laugh’d,
And, walking homeward then, kept bantering me,
To storm my heart with courage womanly,
So sure that love of sex controls us all.
“So fortunate!” she cried; “Heaven favor’d me.
They had no escort,—I no rival near;
And I must ply my arts this very eve.”