Where--weep'st thou still? For thee there's hope in time! This heart is not of iron, and the worm That gnaws the thought, soon ravages the form; And then, perchance, thy years may run the course Which flows through love undarken'd by remorse. And now, farewell for ever!" As he spoke, From her cold silence with a bound she broke, And clasp'd his hand. "Oh, leave me not! or know, Before thou goest, the heart that wrong'd thee so, But wrongs no more." "No more?--Oh, spurn the lie; Harcourt but now hath left thee! Well--deny!" "Yes, he hath left me!" "And he urged the suit That--but thou madden'st me! false lips, be mute!" --"He urged the suit--it is for ever o'er; Dead with the folly youth's crude fancies bore, One word, nay less, one gesture" (and she blush'd) "Struck dumb the suit, the scorn'd presumption crush'd." --"What! and yon portrait curtain'd with such care?" "There did I point and say '_My heart is there_!'" Amazed, bewilder'd--struggling half with fear And half delight--his steps the curtain near. He lifts the veil: that face--It is his own! But not the face her later gaze had known; Not stern, nor sad, nor cold,--but in those eyes, The wooing softness love unmix'd supplies; The fond smile beaming the glad lips above, Bright as when radiant with the words "I love." An instant mute--oh, canst thou guess the rest? The next his Constance clinging to his breast; All from the proud reserve, at once allied To the girl's modesty, the woman's pride, Melting in sobs and happy tears--and words Swept into music from long-silent chords. Then came the dear confession, full at last. Then stream'd life's Future on the fading Past; And as a sudden footstep nears the door, As a third shadow dims the threshold floor-- As Seaton, entering in his black despair, Pauses the tears, the joy, the heaven to share-- The happy Ruthven raised his princely head, "Give her again--this day in truth we wed!" And when the spring the earth's fresh glory weaves In merry sunbeams and green quivering leaves, A joy-bell ringing through a cloudless air Knells Harcourt's hopes and welcomes Ruthven's heir. MILTON. IN FOUR PARTS. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER.