THE ROSE.
187
He took the flower, and to his lip 't was press'd,
One moment, and 'tis safe within his breast;
But while he linger'd dreaming o'er its bloom,
Olympia’s step again is in the room
With the young cavalier, who urged her way,
And said her rose beside the column lay,
For there he miss'd it, and some flattering word
Fill'd up the whisper which he only heard.
Leoni flung it down in carelessness,
As he had mark'd them not, and held it less
From knowledge of his act than vacant thought,
While the mind on some other subject wrought.
In haste he left them both, but he could hear
The pleading of the gallant cavalier
For that rose as a gift. He might not tell
What answer from the maiden's lip then fell,
