At length he spake: "For evil or for good,

I take the Helm of Strife; let come what may."

IV.

Dawn shivered coldly through the meadowlands;

The ever-trembling aspens by the stream

Quivered with chilly light and fitful gleam;

Ruffling the heavy foliage of the plane,

Until the leaves turned, like pale, lifted hands,

A cold gust stirred with presage of near rain.

Coldly the light on Geoffrey's hauberk fell;