Chapter XXXI: The Stranger

Who knocks so loudly at the gate?
The night is dark, the hour is late,
And rain comes pelting down!
O, 'tis a stranger gone astray!
That calls to ask the nearest way
To yonder little town.

Why, tis a long and dreary mile
For one o'ercome with cold and toil;
Go to him, Charles, and say,
"Good stranger! here repose to-night,
And with the morning's earliest light,
We'll guide you on your way."