Ban eager to meet him, to give to his hand
A message the wires had flashed over the land
To Louise; he received and tore out the dispatch,
Bead it through by the flickering flame of a match,
Bead the ten words laconic and fateful that burned
On his brain, and then solemnly, slowly he turned
And rode back.
She was still standing there in the lane,
And her countenance, dulled and disfigured by pain,
Lighted not when she saw him.
"Why have you come back!
Are you then but a galloping wolf on my track!
When I hear the long howls and the hoofs that pursue
Shall I look up to see it is you, only you !
Tis a ghost that you are, and why cannot you stay
In the earth where heartbroken I laid you away!
Do not touch me or kiss me, for shall I not rave
At the feel of the chill and the slime of the grave !
Oh, Theodore, shameful it is and unfair
That you come back to witness my grief and despair,-
Would you number my sobs and the tears that I shed!
Must that terrible parting a third time be said!"
Darling, I leave you no more : He is dead !
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