Chapter I

“I never loved but one,” she said;
“I loved him just for fun,” she said;
And, saying this, she swung her head--
Had she been frank, they had been wed.
I saw her at a ball that night,
Her eyes so dark and face so white,
Her tone and manner wild delight;
I knew she served him not aright.

II.

“I am too old to love,” she said;
“The one I loved in fun is dead!
I plant these flowers above his head,
Here lies my idol, dead!” she said.
“’Tis sad to think it might have been;
’Tis sadder yet to feel my sin.
Love learns too late; but then, but then,
He loved me once--the best of men.