For now was the parting-time;

But she no other answer would give,

Than this distich of mystical rhyme,—

Kind Sir, if the truth I must tell,

At the sign of the Broken-Skimmer I dwell.

Then she flew from the ball, and threw on

Her Catskin cloak again;

And slipt in unseen by the cook,

Who little thought where she had been.

But not by my lord unseen,