No sign of recognition as they took

His way and her way to whatever nook

Waited them in the darkness either side

Of that bright stage where lately groom and bride

Had fired the audience to a frenzy-fit

Of sympathetic rapture—every whit

Earned as the curtain fell on her and me,

—Actors. Three whole years, nothing was to see

But calm and concord: where a speech was due

There came the speech; when the smiles were wanted too,