ping woods.

Sweeter dreams are in the forest,
Round thee storms would never rave;
And when need of rest is sorest,
Glide thou then into thy cave.

"Or, if still thou choosest rather
Marble, be its spell on me;
Let thy slumber round me gather,
Let another dream with thee!"

Again I paused, and gazed through the stony shroud, as if, by very force
of penetrative sight, I would clear every lineament of the lovely face.
And now I thought the hand that had lain under the cheek, had slipped
a little downward. But then I could not be sure that I had at first
observed its position accurately. So I sang again; for the longing had
grown into a passionate need of seeing her alive--

"Or art thou Death, O woman? for since I
Have set me singing by thy side,
Life hath forsook the upper sky,
And all the outer world hath died.

"Yea, I am dead; for thou hast drawn
My life all downward unto thee.
Dead moon of love! let twilight dawn:
Awake! and let the darkness flee.

"Cold lady of the lovely stone!
Awake! or I shall perish here;
And thou be never more alone,
My form and I for ages near.

"But words are vain; reject them all--
They utter but a feeble part:
Hear thou the depths from which they call,
The voiceless longing of my heart."

There arose a slightly crashing sound. Like a sudden apparition that
comes and is gone, a white form, veiled in a light robe of whiteness,
burst upwards from the stone, stood, glided forth, and gleamed away
towards the woods. For I followed to the mouth of the cave, as soon
as the amazement and concentration of delight permitted the nerves of
motion again to act; and saw the white form amidst the trees, as it
crossed a little glade on the edge of the forest where the sunlight fell
full, seeming to gather with intenser radiance on the one object that
floated rather than flitted through its lake of beams. I gazed after her
in a kind of despair; found, freed, lost! It seemed useless to follow,
yet follow I must. I marked the direction she took; and without once
looking round to the forsaken cave, I hastened towards the forest.

CHAPTER VI

"Ah, let a ma