Clare had seemed to like 'Cupid's Gardens,' 'I have parks, I have hounds,' and 'The break o' the day;' and had seemed not to care for 'The Tailor's Breeches,' and 'Such a beauty I did grow,' excellent ditties as they were.
To perfect the ballads was now her deep desire. She practised them privately at odd moments, especially 'The break o' the day:'
Arise, arise, arise!
And pick your love a posy,
All o' the sweetest flowers
That in the garden grow.
The turtle doves and sma' birds
In every bough a building,
So early in the spring-time,
At the break o' the day!
It would have melted the heart of a stone to hear
her singing these ditties, whenever she worked
apart from the rest of the girls in this cold dry
time; the tears running down her cheeks all the
while at the thought that perhaps he would not,
after all, come to hear her, and the simple silly
words of the songs resounding in painful mockery
of the aching heart of the singer.
