FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   >>  
e bolted!" the mother cried: While Suzette, ill at ease, Watched the red sign of the Breeze. At midnight, down to the waiting skiff She stole in the shadow of the cliff; And out of the Bay's mouth ran The schooner with maid and man. And all night long, on a restless bed, Her prayers to the Virgin Marguerite said And thought of her lover's pain Waiting for her in vain. Did he pace the sands? Did he pause to hear The sound of her light step drawing near? And, as the slow hours passed, Would he doubt her faith at last? But when she saw through the misty pane, The morning break on a sea of rain, Could even her love avail To follow his vanished sail? Meantime the Breeze, with favoring wind, Left the rugged Moisic hills behind, And heard from an unseen shore The falls of Manitou roar. On the morrow's morn, in the thick, gray weather They sat on the reeling deck together, Lover and counterfeit, Of hapless Marguerite. With a lover's hand, from her forehead fair He smoothed away her jet-black hair. What was it his fond eyes met? The scar of the false Suzette! Fiercely he shouted: "Bear away East by north for Seven Isles Bay!" The maiden wept and prayed, But the ship her helm obeyed. Once more the Bay of the Isles they found They heard the bell of the chapel sound, And the chant of the dying sung In the harsh, wild Indian tongue. A feeling of mystery, change, and awe Was in all they heard and all they saw Spell-bound the hamlet lay In the hush of its lonely bay. And when they came to the cottage door, The mother rose up from her weeping sore, And with angry gestures met The scared look of Suzette. "Here is your daughter," the skipper said; "Give me the one I love instead." But the woman sternly spake; "Go, see if the dead will wake!" He looked. Her sweet face still and white And strange in the noonday taper light, She lay on her little bed, With the cross at her feet and head. In a passion of grief the strong man bent Down to her face, and, kissing it, went Back to the waiting Breeze, Back to the mournful seas. Never again to the Merrimac And Newbury's homes that bark came back.
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   199   200   201   202   203   204   205   206   207   208   209   210   211   >>  



Top keywords:

Suzette

 

Breeze

 
Marguerite
 
mother
 

waiting

 
feeling
 

change

 
mystery
 
lonely
 

hamlet


cottage
 
maiden
 

prayed

 

shouted

 
obeyed
 

Indian

 
chapel
 

tongue

 

passion

 

strong


strange

 

noonday

 

Newbury

 

Merrimac

 

kissing

 

mournful

 

looked

 

daughter

 
skipper
 

weeping


gestures

 
scared
 

Fiercely

 

sternly

 

drawing

 

Virgin

 

thought

 

Waiting

 

passed

 

prayers


restless

 

Watched

 

midnight

 

bolted

 

schooner

 
shadow
 
morning
 

counterfeit

 

reeling

 

weather