"Yea;" he said. "Maybe Thou heard'st my heart, that calls continually: But with my lips I called thee not. But, stay! The night is wild. Thou wilt not go away! The night is wild, and it is long till day! To see thee like a benediction near, To hear thy voice, to have thy cool hand here Smoothing my feverish brow and matted curls; To see thy white throat, whiter than its pearls, Lean o'er me breathing; feel the influence Of thy large eyes, like stars, whose sole defence Against all storm is beauty,--is to see And feel a portion of divinity, My heart's high dream come true, my dream of dreams!--" Then paused and said, "See, how the tempest streams! How sweeps the tumult! and the thunder gleams As, when King Arthur charged on battle-fields Of Humber, glared the fiery spears and shields Of all his knights!--when the Five Kings went down! In the wild hurl of onset overthrown.... But thy white presence, like the moon, has sown This room with calm; and all the storm in me, The tempest of my soul, dies utterly. So let me feel thy hand upon my cheek. And speak! I love thy voice: belovéd, speak." "Thou lov'st a thing of air, fond Accolon! Is thy love then so spiritual? Nay! anon 'Twill change, methinks. Whatever may befall, Earth-love, thou'lt find, is better, after all."-- She smiled; and, sudden, through the moon-rent wall Of storm, baptizing moonlight, foot and face, Bathed and possessed her, as his soul the grace And sweetness of her smile, whose life was brief, But long enough to heal him of his grief. "Now rest," she said; "I love thee with much love!-- Thou didst not know I loved: but God above, He knew and had divinement.--Winds may blow!-- To lie by thee to-night my mind is. So,"-- She laughed,--"sleep well!--For me ... give me thy word Of knighthood!--look thou!... and this naked sword Laid here betwixt us!... Let it be a wall Strong between love and lust an lov'st me all in all."