tain, young Lord Leigh, with his eyes so grey of blee--
_Toll slowly._
And thin lips that scarcely sheath the cold white gnashing of his
teeth,
Gnashed in smiling, absently,--

XXVII.

Cried aloud, "So goes the day, bridegroom fair of Duchess May!"
_Toll slowly._
"Look thy last upon that sun! if thou seest to-morrow's one
'T will be through a foot of clay.

XXVIII.

"Ha, fair bride! dost hear no sound save that moaning of the hound?"
_Toll slowly._
"Thou and I have parted troth, yet I keep my vengeance-oath,
And the other may come round.

XXIX.

"Ha! thy will is brave to dare, and thy new love past compare"--
_Toll slowly._
"Yet thine old love's falchion brave is as strong a thing to have,
As the will of lady fair.

XXX.

"Peck on blindly, netted dove! If a wife's name thee behove"--
_Toll slowly_--
"Thou shalt wear the same to-morrow, ere the grave has hid the sorrow
Of thy last ill-mated love.

XXXI.

"O'er his fixed and silent mouth, thou and I will call back troth":
_Toll slowly._
"He shall altar be and priest,--and he will not cry at least
'I forbid you, I am loth!'

XXXII.

"I will wring thy fingers pale in the gauntlet of my mail":
_Toll slowly._
"'Little hand and muckle gold' close shall lie within my hold,
As the sword did, to prevail."

XXXIII.

Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west--
_Toll slowly._
Oh, and laughed the Duchess May, and her soul did put away
All his boasting, for a jest.

XXXIV.

In her chamber did she sit, laughing low to think of it,--
_Toll slowly._
"Tower is strong and will is free: thou canst boast, my lord of Leigh,
But thou boastest little wit."

XXXV.

In her tire-glass gazed she, and she blushed right womanly--
_Toll slowly._
She blushed half from her disdain, half her beauty was so plain,
--"Oath for oath, my lord of Leigh!"

XXXVI.

Straight she called her maidens in--