My father used to sit in carelessly

After his soldier-fashion, while I stood

Between his knees to question him: and here

Gerard our gray retainer,—as he says,

Fed with our food, from sire to son, an age—

Has told a story—I am to believe!

That Mildred ... oh, no, no! both tales are true,

Her pure cheek's story and the forester's!

Would she, or could she, err—much less, confound

All guilts of treachery, of craft, of ... Heaven