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The heir of Rookwood.
As the months passed, her beauty's quick perfecting?
I only knew that she had stood between
Me and my boyhood's peril; that the love
She lighted in my soul, was like a flame
That, kindled in some close unwholesome cave,
Burns out mephitic vapours. I was happy—
Armed with strong thoughts, aspiring every day
To nobler wisdom; and as fountains, falling,
Do pluck down rainbows, even by baffled effort
Made hopeful; health to my misshapen limbs
With manhood come; and strength, if discontent
Held up her mirror, or ambition flashed
His blazing sword athwart its path, to curb
My startled spirit—tranquil with my books,
Save when sweet Lilia lured me from their sway,
Breaking the calm of thought with her light jests,
As one flings down on some unsparkling lake
Handfuls of blossoms. Rumours of the world,
Flying o'er Rookwood, dropped to Ernestine
Seeds that put forth. She hungered for the life
Of courts and cities. She was born for these,
And Lilia's wild ways only served to warn
I only knew that she had stood between
Me and my boyhood's peril; that the love
She lighted in my soul, was like a flame
That, kindled in some close unwholesome cave,
Burns out mephitic vapours. I was happy—
Armed with strong thoughts, aspiring every day
To nobler wisdom; and as fountains, falling,
Do pluck down rainbows, even by baffled effort
Made hopeful; health to my misshapen limbs
With manhood come; and strength, if discontent
Held up her mirror, or ambition flashed
His blazing sword athwart its path, to curb
My startled spirit—tranquil with my books,
Save when sweet Lilia lured me from their sway,
Breaking the calm of thought with her light jests,
As one flings down on some unsparkling lake
Handfuls of blossoms. Rumours of the world,
Flying o'er Rookwood, dropped to Ernestine
Seeds that put forth. She hungered for the life
Of courts and cities. She was born for these,
And Lilia's wild ways only served to warn
