Swear that when I am gone you’ll do your best
To chase this dream of fondness from your breast.’
“The abrupt appeal electrified her thought;—
She looked to Heaven, as if its aid she sought,
Dried hastily the tear-drops from her cheek,
And signified the vow she could not speak.
“Ere long he communed with her mother mild:
‘Alas!’ she said, ‘I warned—conjured my child,
And grieved for this affection from the first,
But like fatality it has been nursed;