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And I said, as I thought of his falsehood,
 And her lack of womanly trust,
"Let them rest with the past, I would not exchange
 Loving hearts for such glittering dust."

And I heard as I laid down my letter,
 Little voices just outside my door,—
Little feet, whose footfalls made music,
 Pattering constantly over the floor;
And a sound of whispered rejoicing
 Met my ear as I lifted the latch,
Merging into such glad spoken tidings,
 Wealth in words that no diamonds can match.

So down where the lamps were lighted,
 And the table was spread for tea,—
Leaving all my regrets behind me,
 For the falsehood over the sea,—
I went with my darling companions,
 Joining them in their settled belief
That the baby's new teeth are the veriest pearls,
 Of worth completest and chief.

Two pearls in a setting of rubies,—
 The darlingest bud of a mouth,—
Worth more than the mines of Golconda,
 Or the gem-laden waves of the South.
Thus the falsehood that might have brought anguish,
 The friendship now proved but as naught,
Were but foils, making fairer by contrast,
 Common things by affection inwrought.

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