Supposing her heart in her mouth shall stay?

Strange are our minds and their workings, I'm sure

Studying them might drive Solomon wild:

At the loud knocking, I ran to the door

With a sudden thought of that nurse and child.

I saw her rocking herself in her chair,

While the mad wind blew 'neath the stormy sky;

I saw the little child watching her there,

And knew, with a pang, that the child was I.

(Strange are the pangs, that, when life is most fair,

With not a regret to shadow the scene,

Seize on the heart with a sudden despair,

From a passing mem'ry of what has been.)

[pg 73]

And while to the door I ran with a start,

Frighten'd to death at the knocking without,

I was thinking of my old nurse's heart,

And not of what all the noise was about!

[pg 74]

Four men without peering sharply within;

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