Chapter IV

"Thou art early from the wedding feast!" "Good truth, I could not stay;
I dared not see the piteous sight, and therefore turned away;

"I could not bear the pity and the horror in her eyne,
As she stood so fair, in blank despair, within the sacred shrine.

"Around the hapless maiden, all were weeping bitterly,
And the good old rector at the church, a heavy heart had he;

"Not a dry eye was around her, save the step-dame stern alone,
Who looked on with an evil smile, as from a heart of stone;

"And when the ringers rang a peal, as now they came again,
And the women whispered comfort, yet her heart seemed rent in twain.

"High in the place of honour at the marriage feast she sate,
Yet no drop of water drank she, and no crumb of bread she ate;

"And when at last, the feast being done, they would light
the bride to bed,
The ring from off her hand she flung, the wreath from off her head,

"And with wild eyes that spoke despair, and locks that streamed behind,
Into the darkling night she fled, as swiftly as the wind."