"To judge from your accents, discreet and mild,
You were bred in the convent cloister, my child."
"No teacher had I, neither priest nor nun;
There was no one to teach me on earth, not one.
"But while by my father's poor hearth I wrought,
God filled me with many a holy thought."
"Set down your lantern and put out the light
Here is gold: none can help you, 'tis dead of night."
"Good sirs! for my brother the young priest's sake;
If he heard such sayings his heart would break."
*****
"Oh, plunge me down fathoms deep in the sea,
Of your mercy, rather than this thing be!
"Rather than this—'twere a lighter doom—
Oh bury me quick in a living tomb!"
*****
The motherly hostess, sore afraid,
Waited in vain for her little maid.