dusky hour That comes before the sun's first rays, When things occult display their power, A strange light on the chamber plays 

 That is not of the earth or sky, While hurrying footsteps come and go And then into the silence die With whispered mutterings hoarse and low. 

 A sliding panel, by the wainscot hid, Showed, in the unmarked thickness of the walls, A narrow passage and a secret stair That brought us to the level of the moat. Long dry and choked with bracken and with brier, It made a rugged pathway to a court Where stands the ruin of an ancient tower, Fenced in with walls pierced by an entrance low. "Here," said my guide, "when James the first was king, "A daughter of the house, through three long years, "Was by her father close a prisoner kept "Because she would not wed the man he chose. "Stern and unyielding, as became her race, "She set her will against her father's strength. "Through all the time she saw no living face: "No sound of human voice, except her own, "Fell on her ear. She nothing saw but clouds "That swept athwart the cold and pitiless sky, "And blinking stars at night that rose and set "Across the little window in the roof: "Then she went mad and on the stony walls "One day beat out her life in frenzied rage, "And refuge found beyond her father's power." 

 Time passed, and it was late When once again I stood Outside the ancient gate, Where the stone griffins ramped, Cold as relentless fate Changeless as destiny. 

 And I said: "'Tis in vain, Guardians impassible, That ye your watch maintain Over the ghosts of Caulx, While the years wax and wane Century by century. 

 "For behold! I have been Among them and have heard Their voices, I have seen With swift-discerning eyes Over their wide demesne Of human history." 

 

 

   The Science Master 

 "We build," he said, "on elemental things!" And paused to glance around the silent class. "On facts well ascertained which insight brings, "And which in due development must pass "From the first phase, remote, removed, "To the Effect. Thus, link by link, we trace "The lengthening chain of Verity, full proved "By Knowledge, Reason, Logic, each in place." It seemed conclusive to us students then. The man's prestige had weight. Authority Made him for us above all other men; He was the head of our academy. His calm assumption and incisive way, Admitting no alternative nor doubt, As he intoned his long familiar lay, Made 

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