And thoughts and fancies weird and wild
Seem of late to have taken hold

Of her heart, that was once so docile and mild!

She is like all girls.

GOTTLIEB.

URSULA.

Ah no, forsooth!

Unlike all I have ever seen.

For she has visions and strange dreams,
And in all her words and ways, she seems
Much older than she is in truth.

Who would think her but fourteen?
And there has been of late such a change!
My heart is heavy with fear and doubt
That she may not live till the year is out.
She is so strange,

so strange!

--

so strange,

GOTTLIEB.

I am not troubled with any such fear;
She will live and thrive for many a year.

ELSIE'S CHAMBER.

Night. ELSIE praying.

ELSIE.

My Redeemer and my Lord,
I beseech thee, I entreat thee,
Guide me in each act and word,
That hereafter I may meet thee,
Watching, waiting, hoping, yearning,
With my lamp well trimmed and burning!

Interceding

With these bleeding

Wounds upon thy hands and side,

For all who have lived and erred
Thou hast suffered, thou hast died,
Scourged, and mocked, and crucified,
And in the grave hast thou been buried!

If my feeble prayer can reach thee,
O my Saviour, I beseech thee,
Even as thou hast died for me,
More sincerely

Let me follow where thou leadest,
Let me, bleeding as thou bleedest,
Die, if dying I may give

1

Life to one who asks to live,

And more nearly,

Dying thus, resemble thee!

THE CHAMBER OF GOTTLIEB AND URSULA.

Midnight. ELSIE standing by their bedside, weeping.

GOTTLIEB.

THE wind is roaring; the rushing rain

Is loud upon roof and window-pane,
As if the Wild Huntsman of Rodenstein,
Boding evil to me and mine,

Were abroad to-night with his ghostly train!
In the brief lulls of the tempest wild,
The dogs howl in the yard; and hark!
Some one is sobbing in the dark,

Here in the chamber!

ELSIE.

It is I.

URSULA.

Elsie' what ails thee, my poor child?

ELSIE.

I am disturbed and much distressed,
In thinking our dear Prince must die;
I cannot close mine eyes, nor rest.
Longfellow. II.

3

GOTTLIEB.

What wouldst thou? In the Power Divine
His healing lies, not in our own;
It is in the hand of God alone.

That for our dear Prince Henry's sake
I will myself the offering make,
And give my life to purchase his.

URSULA.

Am I still dreaming, or awake?
Thou speakest carelessly of death,
And yet thou knowest not what it is.

ELSIE.

"T is the cessation of our breath.
Silent and motionless we lie;
And no one knoweth more than this.
I saw our little Gertrude die;

She left off breathing, and no more
I smoothed the pillow beneath her head.
She was more beautiful than before.
Like violets faded were her eyes;
By this we knew that she was dead.
Through the open window looked the skies
Into the chamber where she lay,

And the wind was like the sound of wings,
As if angels came to bear her away.
Ah! when I saw and felt these things,
I found it difficult to stay;

It is appointed me to die!

And it will seem no more to thee
Than if at the village on market-day
I should a little longer stay

Than I am used.

URSULA.

Even as thou sayest!

And how my heart beats, when thou stayest!

I cannot rest until my sight

Is satisfied with seeing thee.

What, then, if thou wert dead?

GOTTLIEB.

Of our old eyes thou art the light!
The joy of our old hearts art thou!
And wilt thou die?

URSULA.

Ah me!

Not now! not now!

ELSIE.

Christ died for me, and shall not I
Be willing for my Prince to die?

You both are silent; you cannot speak.
This said I, at our Saviour's feast,
After confession, to the priest,
And even he made no reply.
Does he not warn us all to seek
The happier, better land on high,
Where flowers immortal never wither;
And could he forbid me to go thither?

GOTTLIEB.

In God's own time, my heart's delight!
When he shall call thee, not before!

ELSIE.

I heard him call. When Christ ascended

Triumphantly, from star to star,

He left the gates of heaven ajar.
I had a vision in the night,