{12}

Or when the captive maiden’s plight

Was sorest, suddenly the spell

Was broken, and a welcome bell

Our own forgotten days restored

And called us to the supper board;

Where, with our elders gathered round,

Good cheer and fellowship we found,

And oft a neighbour or a guest

To tell the news or speed the jest.

And all too quickly afterwards

Our bedtime came, and at their cards

And talk we left them. In the hall

The firelight flickered on the wall,

Deep shadows thronged the winding stair,

And overhead, we knew not where,

A footstep fell upon the floor

Of some deserted corridor.{13}

{13}

But, once within our cheerful room,

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