Athulf And Ethilda

Athulf. - Appeared The princess with that merry child Prince Guy: He loves me well, and made her stop and sit, And sate upon her knee, and it so chanced That in his various chatter he denied That I could hold his hand within my own So closely as to hide it: this being tried Was proved against him; he insisted then I could not by his royal sister's hand Do likewise. Starting at the random word, And dumb with trepidation, there I stood Some seconds as bewitched; then I looked up, And in her face beheld an orient flush Of half-bewildered pleasure: from which trance She with an instant case resumed herself, And frankly, with a pleasant laugh, held out Her arrowy hand. I thought it trembled as it lay in mine, But yet her looks were clear, direct, and free. And said that she felt nothing. Sidroc. - And what felt'st thou? Athulf. - A sort of swarming, curling, tremulous tumbling, As though there were an ant-hill in my bosom. I said I was ashamed. - Sidroc, you smile, If at my folly, well! But if you smile, Suspicious of a taint upon my heart, Wide is your error, and you never loved.