HEIRESS AND ARCHITECT
"In true accord with prudent fashionings
For such vicissitudes as living brings,
And thwarting not the law of stable things,
That will I do."
"Shape me," she said, "high walls with tracery
And open ogive-work, that scent and hue
Of buds, and travelling bees, may come in through,
The note of birds, and singings of the sea,
For these are much to me."
"An idle whim!"
Broke forth from him
Whom nought could warm to gallantries:
“Cede all these buds and birds, the zephyr's call.
And scents, and hues, and things that falter all,
And choose as best the close and surly wall,
For winter's freeze."
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