The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 1: Miscellaneous ProseLamb, Charles
General
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 1: Miscellaneous Prose
Lamb, Charles
English literature
The monarch may forget his crown,
That on his head an hour hath been;
The bridegroom may forget his bride
Was made his wedded wife yestreen;
The mother may forget her child,
That smiles so sweetly on her knee:
But I'll remember thee, Glencairn,
And all that thou hast done for me.
'The lines are in Burns--you know, we read him for the first time
together at Margate--and I have been used to refer them to you, and to
call you, in my mind, _Glencairn_--for you were always very, very good
to me. I had a thousand failings, but you would love me in spite of them
all. I am going to drink your health.'"
* * * * *
I shall detain my reader no longer from the narrative.
CHAPTER VIII
They had but four rooms in the cottage. Margaret slept in the biggest
room up stairs, and her grandaughter in a kind of closet adjoining,
where she could be within hearing, if her grandmother should call her in
the night.
The girl was often disturbed in that manner--two or three times in a
night she has been forced to leave her bed, to fetch her grandmother's
cordials, or do some little service for her--but she knew that
Margaret's ailings were _real_ and pressing, and Rosamund never
complained--never suspected, that her grandmother's requisitions had any
thing unreasonable in them.
The night she parted with Miss Clare, she had helped Margaret to bed, as
usual--and, after saying her prayers, as the custom was, kneeling by the
old lady's bed-side, kissed her grandmother, and wished her a good
night--Margaret blessed her, and charged her to go to bed directly. It
was her customary injunction, and Rosamund had never dreamed of
disobeying.
So she retired to her little room. The night was warm and clear--the
moon very bright--her window commanded a view of _scenes_ she had been
tracing in the day-time with Miss Clare.
All the events of the day past, the occurrences of their walk, arose in
her mind. She fancied she should like to retrace those scenes--but it
was now nine o'clock, a late hour in the village.
Still she fancied it would be very charming--and then her grandmother's
injunction came powerfully to her recollection--she sighed, and turned
from the window--and walked up and down her little room.
Ever, when she looked at the window, the wish returned. It was not so
_very late_. The neighbours were yet about, passing under the window to
their homes--she thought, and thought again, till her sensations became
vivid, even to painfulness--her bosom was aching to give them vent.
The village clock struck ten!--the neighbours ceased to pass under the
window. Rosamund, stealing down stairs, fastened the latch behind her,
and left the cottage.
One, that knew her, met her, and observed her with some surprize.
Another recollects having wished her a good night. Rosamund never
returned to the cottage!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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