Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/161

The Abbess told her chaplet o'er,
Nor knew which Saint she should implore;
For, when she thought of Constance, sore
520 She fear'd Lord Marmion's mood.
And judge what Clara must have felt!
The sword, that hung in Marmion's belt,
 Had drunk De Wilton's blood.
Unwittingly, King James had given,
525 As guard to Whitby's shades,
The man most dreaded under heaven
 By these defenceless maids:
Yet what petition could avail,
Or who would listen to the tale
530Of woman, prisoner, and nun,
Mid bustle of a war begun?
They deem'd it hopeless to avoid
The convoy of their dangerous guide.

XIX.
Their lodging, so the King assign'd,
535To Marmion's, as their guardian, join'd;
And thus it fell, that, passing nigh,
The Palmer caught the Abbess' eye,
 Who warn'd him by a scroll,
She had a secret to reveal,
540That much concern'd the Church's weal,
 And health of sinner's soul;
And, with deep charge of secrecy,
 She named a place to meet,
Within an open balcony,
545That hung from dizzy pitch, and high,
 Above the stately street;
To which, as common to each home,
At night they might in secret come.

XX.
At night, in secret, there they came,
550The Palmer and the holy dame.