"Take heart of hers, And give her hand of mine with no more heart Than now, you see upon this brow I strike! What atom of a heart do I retain Not all yours? Dear, you know it! Easily May she accord me pardon when I place My brow beneath her foot, if foot so deign, Since uttermost indignity is spared-- Mere marriage and no love! And all this time Not one word to the purpose! Are you free? Only wait! only let me serve--deserve Where you appoint and how you see the good! I have the will--perhaps the power--at least Means that have power against the world. Fortune-- Take my whole life for your experiment! If you are bound--in marriage, say--why, still, Still, sure, there's something for a friend to do, Outside? A mere well-wisher, understand! I'll sit, my life long, at your gate, you know, Swing it wide open to let you and him Pass freely,--and you need not look, much less Fling me a '_Thank you!--are you there, old friend?_' Don't say that even: I should drop like shot! So I feel now, at least: some day, who knows? After no end of weeks and months and years You might smile! '_I believe you did your best!_' And that shall make my heart leap--leap such leap As lands the feet in Heaven to wait you there! Ah, there's just one thing more! How pale you look! Why? Are you angry? If there's after all, Worst come to worst--if still there somehow be The shame--I said was no shame,--none, I swear!-- In that case, if my hand and what it holds,-- My name,--might be your safeguard now,--at once-- Why, here's the hand--you have the heart." The genuine lovers in Browning's gallery will occur to every reader of Browning: lovers who are not deterred by obstacles, like Norbert, lovers like Miranda, devoted to a woman with a "past"; like the lover in "One Way of Love," who still can say, "Those who win heaven, blest are they." Sometimes there is a problem to be solved, sometimes not. Whenever there is a problem, however, it is solved by Browning on the side of sincerity and truth, never on the side of convention.