CHAPTER XXV.
“WILL YOU MARRY ME, LITTLE JESS?”
“Ne’er with laurel wreath around me,
Have I wreathed my weary brow,
Since to serve thy fame I bound me—
Bound me with a solemn vow.
Evermore in grief I languish—
All my youth in tears is spent;
And, with thoughts of bitter anguish
My too-feeling heart is rent.
“Joyous those about are playing,