Page:Headlong Hall - Peacock (1816).djvu/193

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HEADLONG HALL.
185
She gave him three kisses, and forth did he fare,
And long did he wander, and no one knew where;
And long from her cottage, through sunshine and rain,
She watched his return, but he came not again.

Her children grew up, and her husband grew grey;
She sate on the bench through the long summer day:
One evening, when twilight was deep on the shore,
There came an old soldier, and stood by the door.

He asked her for bread, for with toil he was worn:
He asked for a bed to repose him till morn:
In English he spoke, and none knew what he said,
But her oatcake and milk on the table she spread: