Spake the Grim Guest,
From his hollow, cavernous breast;
'Roses in the spring I gather!' "
"That is indeed a striking ballad!" said Miss Ashburton, "but rather too grim and ghostly for this dull afternoon."
"It begins joyously enough with the feast of Pentecost, and the crimson banners at the old castle. Then the contrast is well managed. The Knight in black mail, and the waving in of the mighty shadow in the dance, and the dropping of the faded flowers, are all strikingly presented to the imagination. However, it tellsits own story, and needs no explanation. Here is something in a different vein, though still melancholy. The Castle by the Sea. Shall I read it?"
"Yes, if you like."
Flemming read;
"Hast thou seen that lordly castle,
That Castle by the Sea?
Golden and red above it