The lady shrieked, the lady wailed, While the false knight fled amain: But never durst Muncaster's lord, I trow, Ope that blessed shrine again! PART THIRD. The knight of Muncaster went to woo, And he rode with the whirlwind's speed, For the lady was coy, and the lover was proud, And he hotly spurred his steed. He stayed not for bog, he stayed not for briar, Nor stayed he for flood or fell; Nor ever he slackened his courser's rein, Till he stood by the Lowthers' well. Beside that well was a castle fair, In that castle a fair lady; In that lady's breast was a heart of stone, Nor might it softened be. "Now smooth that brow of scorn, fair maid, And to my suit give ear; There's never a dame in Cumberland, Such a look of scorn doth wear." "Haste, haste thee back," the lady cried, "For a doomed man art thou; I wed not the heir of Muncaster, Thy '_Luck_' is broken now!" "Oh say not so, for on my sire Th' unerring doom was spent; I heir not his ill-luck, I trow, Nor with his dool am shent." "The doom is thine, as thou art his, And to his curse, the heir; But never a luckless babe of mine That fearful curse shall bear!" A moody man was the lover then; But homeward as he hied, Beside the well at Lord Lowther's gate, An ugly dwarf he spied. "Out of my sight, thou fearsome thing; Out of my sight, I say: Or I will fling thine ugly bones To the crows this blessèd day." But the elfin dwarf he skipped and ran Beside the lover's steed, And ever as Muncaster's lord spurred on, The dwarf held equal speed. The lover he slackened his pace again, And to the goblin cried: "What ho, Sir Page, what luckless chance Hath buckled thee to my side?" Up spake then first that shrivelled thing, And he shook his locks of grey: "Why lowers the cloud on Muncaster's brow, And the foam tracks his troubled way?" "There's a lady, the fairest in all this land," The haughty chief replied; "But that lady's love in vain I've sought, And I'll woo none other bride." "And is there not beauty in other lands, And locks of raven hue, That thou must pine for a maiden cold, Whose bosom love ne'er knew?" "Oh, there is beauty in every land," The sorrowing knight replied; "But I'd rather Margaret of Lonsdale wed, Than the fairest dame beside." "And thou shalt the Lady Margaret wed," Said that loathly dwarf again; "There's a key in Muncaster Castle can break That maiden's heart in twain!" "Oh never, oh never, thou lying elf, That maiden's word is spoken: The cup of grace left a traitor's hand, Proud Muncaster's '_Luck_' is broken."