But his road through dimness lay!

He pass’d, in the heart of that ancient wood,

The dark shrine stain’d with the victim’s blood;

Nor paused till the rock, where a vaulted bed

Had been hewn of old for the kingly dead,

Arose on his midnight way.

Then first a moment’s chill

Went shuddering through his breast,

And the steel-clad man stood still

Before that place of rest.