CHAPTER XXIV 344
opened the piano , and entreated him , for the love of heaven , to give me a song . He said I was a capricious witch , and that he would rather sing another time ; but I averred that no time was like the present .
" Did I like his voice ?" he asked .
" Very much ." I was not fond of pampering that susceptible vanity of his ; but for once , and from motives of expediency , I would e ' en soothe and stimulate it .
" Then , Jane , you must play the accompaniment ." " Very well , sir , I will try ."
I did try , but was presently swept off the stool and denominated " a little bungler ." Being pushed unceremoniously to one side -- which was precisely what I wished -- he usurped my place , and proceeded to accompany himself : for he could play as well as sing . I hied me to the window-recess . And while I sat there and looked out on the still trees and dim lawn , to a sweet air was sung in mellow tones the following strain : -
" The truest love that ever heart Felt at its kindled core , Did through each vein , in quickened start , The tide of being pour .
" Her coming was my hope each day , Her parting was my pain ; The chance that did her steps delay Was ice in every vein .
" I dreamed it would be nameless bliss , As I loved , loved to be ; And to this object did I press As blind as eagerly .
" But wide as pathless was the space That lay our lives between , And dangerous as the foamy race Of ocean-surges green .
" And haunted as a robber-path Through wilderness or wood ; For Might and Right , and Woe and Wrath , Between our spirits stood .