"The chestnut shelters it; ah me,
That I should have so faint a heart!
But yester-eve, as by the sea
I sat apart,
"I heard a name, I saw a hand
Of passing stranger point that way—
And will he meet her on the strand,
When late we stray?
"For she is come, for she is there,
I heard it in the dusk, and heard
Admiring words, that named her fair,
But little stirred
"By beauty of the wood and wave,
And weary of an old man's sway;
For it was sweeter to enslave
Than to obey."
—The voice of one that near us stood,
The rustle of a silken fold,
A scent of eastern sandal wood,
A gleam of gold!
A lady! In the narrow space
Between the husband and the wife,
But nearest him—she showed a face
With dangers rife;
A subtle smile that dimpling fled,
As night-black lashes rose and fell:
I looked, and to myself I said,
"The letter L."
He, too, looked up, and with arrest
Of breath and motion held his gaze,
Nor cared to hide within his breast
His deep amaze;
Nor spoke till on her near advance
His dark cheek flushed a ruddier hue;
And with his change of countenance
Hers altered too.
"Lenore!" his voice was like the cry
Of one entreating; and he said
But that—then paused with such a sigh
As mourns the dead.