Yet, when above the forest-glooms The white swans southward passed, And bore her toward the fields of France, Of those beloved fields she oft She heard the ancestral stream; PART IV. THE ever-changing Moon had traced A shout thrice sent from one who chased Bounding through branches interlaced, The fainting creature took the marsh, While plovers screamed, with tumult harsh, Above his antlered head; The desperate deer rushed on, and near The tangled covert fell. Across the marsh, the game in view, Nor paused, till o'er the stag he blew Then, resting on her upright mind, Came forth the Maid. "In me Behold," she said, 66 a stricken Hind Pursued by destiny! "From your deportment, Sir! I deemn "Tears might be shed, and I might pray, Crouching and terrified, That what has been unveiled to-day You would in mystery hide; But I will not defile with dust The knee that bends to adore The God in heaven;-attend, be just; This ask I, and no more! "I speak not of the winter's cold, "From Moscow to the Wilderness Retain his lawless will, To end life here like this poor deer, "Are you the Maid," the Stranger cried, "From Gallic parents sprung, Whose vanishing was rumored wide, Sad theme for every tongue? Who foiled an Emperor's eager quest? You, Lady, forced to wear These rude habiliments, and rest Your head in this dark lair!" But wonder, pity, soon were quelled; The soul's pure brightness he beheld He loved, he hoped, —a holy flame "Such bounty is no gift of chance," To me the charge hath given. But when the Lady Catherine pleads, "Leave open to my wish the course, And I to her will go; From that humane and heavenly source Good, only good, can flow." Faint sanction given, the Cavalier Though question followed question, dear To the Maiden's filial heart. Kept pace with his desires; And the fifth morning gave him signt Of Moscow's glittering spires. He sued: -heart-smitten by the wrong, To the lorn Fugitive The Emperor sent a pledge as strong A more than mighty change! If e'er And joy's excess produced a fear Of something void and vain, 'Twas when the Parents, who had mourned So long the lost as dead, Beheld their only Child returned, The household floor to tread. Soon gratitude gave way to love Within the Maiden's breast: The Czar bestowed a dower; And universal Moscow shared The triumph of that hour. Flowers strewed the ground; the nuptial feast Was held with costly state; And there, 'mid many a noble guest, The Foster-parents sate; Encouraged by the imperial eye, They shrank not into shade; Great was their bliss, the honor high |