“You remember Longfellow’s ‘Maidenhood’?” continued Alva; and she murmured some of the verses:
“‘Maiden with the meek brown eyes,
In whose orbs a shadow lies,
Like the dusk in evening skies.
“‘Thou whose locks outshine the sun,
Golden tresses wreathed in one,
As the braided streamlets run:
“‘Standing with reluctant feet,
Where the brook and river meet,
Womanhood and childhood fleet.’”