IX.

She marked the woman's wrinkled cheek,
And saw 'twas swollen with weeping,
Before she heard her answering speak,
“He is alive, and sleeping.

X.

“'Tis now the second day that he
Has been too weak to rise from bed,
And truly, as it seems to me,
He never more will lift his head.

XI.

“I've loved him ever since a child,
And tended him from day to day;
I sometimes think 'twould drive me wild
If I should see him pass away.”

XII.

Then Jane exclaimed,—“What noise is there?
I hear a tapping faint and low.”
The other hastened up the stair,
And Jane with her would go.

XIII.

And she was there when Henry said—
“I heard below a well-known voice;
Or was my heart by dreams betrayed,
That made me suddenly rejoice?”

XIV.

His words were weak, and drawn with pain,
His face looked flushed with burning red;
She would no more her love restrain,
But swiftly knelt beside the bed.

XV.

Her arms around his neck she threw,
She gave his lips a quivering kiss,
And heart to heart tumultuous flew,
For naught was left them now but this.

XVI.

Few moments passed in hurried grief,
And then her face away she drew,
And gazing, sought to find relief
In looks where misery met her view.

XVII.

He strove to smile with happier eyes,
But could not long the toil sustain;
From his deep glance the meaning flies,
The lids drop down—he longs in vain.

XVIII.

On her young heart his withered hand
She laid, and pressed it strongly there,
As if her life she could command,
And bid it pass to him from her.

XIX.

He slept. The maiden whispered low,
“I pray you try to find me, dame,
A friend who to the church would go,
And say why here to-night I came.”

XX.

The woman went, and Jane remained
With all she e'er had loved the best,
His hand upon her bosom strained,
Her face by his, but not in rest.