“yes, the jingle ran thus. Now listen, madame—listen, the while that I have my singing out, whatever any little cut-throats may be planning in corners.”

Sang Sire Edward:

“As, later on,

Death will, half-idly, still our pleasuring,

And change for fevered laughter in the sun

Sleep such as Merlin’s,—and excess thereof,—

Whence we, divorceless Death our Viviaine

Implacable, may never more regain

The unforgotten rapture, and the pain

And grief and ecstasy of life and love.