_
"Good my niece, that hand withal looketh somewhat soft and small
For so large a will, in sooth.
"Good my niece, that hand withal looketh somewhat soft and small
For so large a will, in sooth.
Elizabeth Browning
Yet thereunto, blind to doom, three months since, a bride did come--
_Toll slowly. _
One who proudly trod the floors and softly whispered in the doors,
"May good angels bless our home. "
VII.
Oh, a bride of queenly eyes, with a front of constancies:
_Toll slowly. _
Oh, a bride of cordial mouth where the untired smile of youth
Did light outward its own sighs!
VIII.
'T was a Duke's fair orphan-girl, and her uncle's ward--the Earl--
_Toll slowly. _
Who betrothed her twelve years old, for the sake of dowry gold,
To his son Lord Leigh the churl.
IX.
But what time she had made good all her years of womanhood--
_Toll slowly. _
Unto both these lords of Leigh spake she out right sovranly,
"My will runneth as my blood.
X.
"And while this same blood makes red this same right hand's veins,"
she said--
_Toll slowly_--
"'T is my will, as lady free, not to wed a lord of Leigh,
But Sir Guy of Linteged. "
XI.
The old Earl he smiled smooth, then he sighed for wilful youth--
_Toll slowly.
_
"Good my niece, that hand withal looketh somewhat soft and small
For so large a will, in sooth. "
XII.
She too smiled by that same sign, but her smile was cold and fine--
_Toll slowly. _
"Little hand clasps muckle gold, or it were not worth the hold
Of thy son, good uncle mine! "
XIII.
Then the young lord jerked his breath, and sware thickly in his teeth--
_Toll slowly_--
"He would wed his own betrothed, an she loved him an she loathed,
Let the life come or the death. "
XIV.
Up she rose with scornful eyes, as her father's child might rise--
_Toll slowly. _
"Thy hound's blood, my lord of Leigh, stains thy knightly heel,"
quoth she,
"And he moans not where he lies:
XV.
"But a woman's will dies hard, in the hall or on the sward"--
_Toll slowly. _
"By that grave, my lords, which made me orphaned girl and dowered lady,
I deny you wife and ward! "
XVI.
Unto each she bowed her head and swept past with lofty tread.
_Toll slowly. _
Ere the midnight-bell had ceased, in the chapel had the priest
Blessed her, bride of Linteged.
XVII.
