Thus Agnes won her noble name, Her lawless lover's hand; The lowly maiden so became PART SIXTH. CONCLUSION. THE tale is done; it little needs They leave the fair ancestral isle For bleak New England's shore; How gracious is the courtly smile Again through Lisbon's orange bowers They watch the river's gleam, And shudder as her shadowy towers Shake in the trembling stream. Fate parts at length the fondest pair; The breast that trampling death could spare His noiseless shafts assail. He longs to change the heaven of blue To breathe the air his boyhood knew; He seeks them but to die. -Hard by the terraced hill-side town, Still sparkling with their old renown, The "Waters of the Sun,". The Lady Agnes raised the stone And there Sir Harry sleeps alone The home of early love was dear; At last the evil days were come She hears the rebels' rattling drum,- -I tell you, as my tale began, The box is glistening huge and green, Three elms high-arching still are seen, And one lies stretched below. The hangings, rough with velvet flowers, Flap on the latticed wall; And o'er the mossy ridge-pole towers The rock-hewn chimney tall. The doors on mighty hinges clash Scarce can the night-winds jar. Behold the chosen room he sought Alone, to fast and pray, Each year, as chill November brought The dismal earthquake day. There hung the rapier blade he wore, Bent in its flattened sheath; The coat the shrieking woman tore Caught in her clenching teeth; The coat with tarnished silver lace A graded terrace yet remains; And look along the wooded plains The broken forest walls define He cut his vista through. If further story you shall crave, Or ask for living proof, Go see old Julia, born a slave She told me half that I have told, The mansion as it looked of old The box, when round the terraced square Its glossy wall was drawn ; The climbing vines, the snow-balls fair, The roses on the lawn. And Julia says, with truthful look That in her own black hands she took And you may hold the story light, Or, if you like, believe; But there it was, the woman's bite, A mouthful from the sleeve. |