Then, when they caught my watching face, Vanished as if by magic; And, like some sombre thing beguiled To strange, unwonted laughter, The gloomy garden, having smiled, ACT THE SECOND. Yes: they were gone, the stage was bare,— Half vexed, I knew not wherefore, The boy, it seemed, to add a force To words found unavailing, Had pushed a striped and spotted horse Where now it stuck, stiff-legged and straight, Chattered some half-articulate Excited explanation. Meanwhile, the girl, with upturned face, Stood motionless, and listened; The ill-cut frock had gained a grace, The pale hair almost glistened; The figure looked alert and bright, Buoyant as though some power Had lifted it, as rain at night Uplifts a drooping flower. The eyes had lost their listless way,The old life, tired and faded, Had slipped down with the doll that lay She only, yearning upward, found Ah, tyrant Time! you hold the book, Thus ended Act the Second. ACT THE THIRD. Or so it proved. For while I still And lo, once more appeared the head, Flushed, while the round mouth pouted; "Give Tom a kiss," the red lips said, In style the most undoubted. The girl came back without a thought; If more restraint had not been taught For these your code was all too stiff, Manners were not invented. Then on the scene,-by happy fate, And bore him sourly off, despite His well-directed kicking. The girl stood silent, with a look Then, with a sudden gesture took And, passing in, I saw her press It made the dull room brighter, The Gladiator almost gay, And e'en "The Lancet " lighter. AN AUTUMN IDYLL. "Sweet Themmes! runne softly, till I end my song." LAWRENCE. SPENSER. FRANK. ЈАСК. LAWRENCE. HERE, where the beech-nuts drop among the grasses, Push the boat in, and throw the rope ashore. Jack, hand me out the claret and the glasses; FRANK. Jack's undecided. Say, formose puer, Shall we row higher, for the reeds are fewer, JACK. Hist! That's a pikë. Look-nose against the river Enter a gudgeon. Snap,-a gulp, a shiver ;- |