The weighty cause which led Siverian here
Might draw him from her side; better to know
The worst than fear it. And with that he bent
Over the embers, and with head half raised
Aslant, and shadow’d by his hand, he said,
Where is King Roderick’s mother? lives she still?
God hath upheld her, the old man replied;
She bears this last and heaviest of her griefs,
Not as she bore her husband’s wrongs, when hope
And her indignant heart supported her;