In eager converse clustered; till, at last,

They parted, and, with high hopes beating fast,

Christine unto her turret-room returned--

Her dark eyes bright and all her face aglow,

As if some new-lit rapture in her burned.

About her little chamber swift she moved,

Until, at length, in travelling array,

She paused to rest, and all-impatient lay

Upon her snow-white bed, and watched the light

Fail from the lilied arras that she loved