Stifling a long-drawn sigh; and that was all.
Then came the siege of Paris--hideous time!
Spreading through France as gangrene spreads, invasion
Drew near Irene’s chateau. In vain the priest
And the old doctor, in their evening talk,
Grouped with the family around the hearth,
Death for their constant theme before her took.
No sad foreboding could that young heart know.
Roger at Metz was, with his regiment, safe,
At the last date unwounded. He was living;