Forgot the jeering world—ah, me!
And followed a knight, and fought and died,
All for the love of—chivalry.
“‘She died; and when in her last cold sleep
She lay all pale and cold—ah, me!
They read of a love as wild and deep
As the deep, dark sea.’”
The song fixed itself in Desha’s memory, and the day came when he recalled it in wonder.
She would not sing again, but she played them some rare instrumental pieces—two very gay and brilliant, one exquisitely sad and sweet; and this last one stayed in Desha’s heart with the song, because of their melting pathos, so different from anything formerly associated with the lovely, volatile belle. He had not believed that her feelings were deep enough for the pathos to which she had given expression through her voice and touch.
“Love has taught her everything,” he thought, with unconscious, bitter envy of George Merrington.