Page:Once a Week June to Dec 1863.pdf/388

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ONCE A WEEK.
[Sept. 26, 1863.

Our hospitable home.Edward and Grace
Were whispering in the garden, just arrived:
What they had said we know not; but all eve
They sat together in the jasmined porch.
So I and Amoret,—because we lacked
Companionship from others; or were glad
Because we won those filberts; or were dull
Because to-morrow brought the parting hour,—
Paced the dim cloistered fir-walk which runs round
A dewy meadow, till the stars came forth.
And words were uttered that fair autumn eve,
Tremblingly uttered in the favouring dusk,
Words not repelled at once, nor answered quite,
But making echoes round the wondering heart:—
Words that may colour all the life-long fates
Of two who met in Surrey’s hazled lanes.

Berni.