To love; and I, my Dora,

If once I fancied so,
It was a brief delusion,
And over,-long ago."

XIII.

Between the Past and Present,
On that bleak moment's height,

She stood.

As some lost traveller

By a quick flash of light

Seeing a gulf before him,

With dizzy, sick despair, Reels backward, but to find it A deeper chasm there.

XIV.

The twilight grew still darker,

The fragrant flowers more sweet, The stars shone out in heaven,

The lamps gleamed down the street; And hours passed in dreaming.

Over their new-found fate,
Ere they could think of wondering
Why Alice was so late.

XV.

She came, and calmly listened;
In vain they strove to trace
If Herbert's memory shadowed
In grief upon her face.

No blame, no wonder showed there,

No feeling could be told; Her voice was not less steady,

Her manner not more cold.

XVI.

They could not hear the anguish
That broke in words of pain
Through the calm summer midnight,-
"My Herbert-mine again!"
Yes, they have once been parted,

But this day shall restore

The long lost one: she claims him:

"My Herbert-mine once more!"

XVII.

Now Christmas Eve returning,

Saw Alice stand beside

The altar, greeting Dora,
Again a smiling bride;
And now the gloomy evening
Sees Alice pale and worn,
Leaving the house for ever,
To wander out forlorn.

XVIII.

Forlorn-nay, not so.

Anguish

Shall do its work at length;

Her soul, passed through the fire,

Shall gain still purer strength.

Somewhere there waits for Alice
An earnest noble part;

And, meanwhile God is with her,-
God, and her own true heart!

THE WIND.

HE wind went forth o'er land and sea
Loud and free;

Foaming waves leapt up to meet it, Stately pines bowed down to greet it; While the wailing sea

And the forest's murmured sigh
Joined the cry

Of the wind that swept o'er land and sea.

The wind that blew upon the sea

Fierce and free,

Cast the bark upon the shore,
Whence it sailed the night before

Full of hope and glee!

And the cry of pain and death.

Was but a breath,

Through the wind that roared upon the sea.

The wind was whispering on the lea

Tenderly;

But the white rose felt it pass,
And the fragile stalks of grass
Shook with fear to see

All her trembling petals shed,
As it fled,

So gently by, the wind upon the lea.

Blow, thou wind, upon the sea
Fierce and free,

And a gentler message send,
Where frail flowers and grasses bend,
On the sunny lea;

For thy bidding still is one,

Be it done

In tenderness or wrath, on land or sea!

EXPECTATION.

HE King's three daughters stood on the terrace,

The hanging terrace, so broad and green, Which keeps the sea from the marble Palace, There was Princess May, and Princess Alice, And the youngest Princess, Gwendoline.

Sighed Princess May, "Will it last much longer.
Time throbs so slow and my Heart so quick;

And oh, how long is the day in dying;
Weary am I of waiting and sighing,

For Hope deferred makes the spirit sick."

But Princess Gwendoline smiled and kissed her :"Am I not sadder than you, my Sister? Expecting joy is a happy pain.

The Future's fathomless mine of treasures
All countless hordes of possible pleasures,
Might bring their store to my feet in vain."

Sighed Princess Alice as night grew nearer :-
"So soon, so soon, is the daylight fled!
And oh, how fast comes the dark to-morrow,
Who hides, perhaps in her veil of sorrow,
The terrible hour I wait and dread!"

But Princess Gwendoline kissed her, sighing,
"It is only Life that can fear dying;
Possible loss means possible gain.

Those who still dread, are not quite forsaken;
But not to fear, because all is taken,

Is the loneliest depth of human pain."