_1st Student._ They go in; now, silence! You three--not nearer the window, mind, than that pomegranate--just 155 where the little girl, who a few minutes ago passed us singing, is seated! II.--NOON SCENE--_Over Orcana. The house of_ JULES, _who crosses its threshold with_ PHENE: _she is silent, on which_ JULES _begins--_ Do not die, Phene! I am yours now, you Are mine now; let fate reach me how she likes, If you'll not die: so, never die! Sit here-- My workroom's single seat. I over-lean This length of hair and lustrous front; they turn 5 Like an entire flower upward: eyes, lips, last Your chin--no, last your throat turns: 'tis their scent Pulls down my face upon you. Nay, look ever This one way till I change, grow you--I could Change into you, beloved! You by me, 10 And I by you; this is your hand in mine, And side by side we sit: all's true. Thank God! I have spoken: speak you! O my life to come! My Tydeus must be carved that's there in clay; Yet how be carved, with you about the room? 15 Where must I place you? When I think that once This roomfull of rough block-work seemed my heaven Without you! Shall I ever work again, Get fairly into my old ways again, Bid each conception stand while, trait by trait, 20 My hand transfers its lineaments to stone? Will my mere fancies live near you, their truth-- The live truth, passing and repassing me, Sitting beside me? Now speak! Only first, See, all your letters! Was't not well contrived? 25 Their hiding-place is Psyche's robe; she keeps Your letters next her skin: which drops out foremost? Ah--this that swam down like a first moonbeam Into my world! Again those eyes complete Their melancholy survey, sweet and slow, 30 Of beauty--to the human archetype. On me, with pity, yet some wonder too: As if God bade some spirit plague a world, And this were the one moment of surprise And sorrow while she took her station, pausing 35 O'er what she sees, finds good, and must destroy! What gaze you at? Those? Books, I told you of; Let your first word to me rejoice them, too: This minion, a Coluthus, writ in red Bister and azure by Bessarion's scribe-- 40 Read this line--no, shame--Homer's be the Greek First breathed me from the lips of my Greek girl! This Odyssey in coarse black vivid type With faded yellow blossoms 'twixt page and page, To mark great places with due gratitude; 45 _"He said, and on Antinous directed_ _A bitter shaft"_--a flower blots out the rest! Again upon your search? My statues, then!