Then the news went abroad Sir Rupert was bringing his lady home.
The people about here liked him, and no warmth did their welcome lack,
But they looked askance at my lady, and she gave them their glances back.
They hated her then directly, they chafed at her cold disdain,
And they gossiped her story over in language a bit too plain.
They called her a “stuck-up stroller,” and somehow the scandal grew,
Till my lady as “Polly Peachum” the whole of the country knew.
Sir Rupert was broken-hearted when he heard of the mocking tone,
And he quarreled with all his comrades until he was left alone—
Alone at the Hall with “Polly,” for the gentry had cut her dead,