Alice Ray: A Romance In Rhyme: Canto II
CANTO
II.
THE
TEMPTATION.
Pale
Zephyrus
is
yielding
His
last
and
sweetest
sighs,
And
Autumn's
mist-like
veil
is
drawn
Athwart
the
summer
skies,
A
veil
as
for
a
Bride's
fair
face,
Which
loveliness
conceals,
And
wakens
Fancy
more
than
all
That
Summer's
pride
reveals.
What
though
the
thick-leaved
forest
Has
lost
its
lustrous
green;
And
on
the
meadow's
sobered
breast
A
shade
of
brown
is
seen;-
We
greet,
with
double
blessings,
The
bright-eyed
gipsy
flowers,
That,
from
departing
Summer's
hand,
Seem
sown
in
rainbow
showers.
We
watch
the
lights
and
shadows
That
frolic
o'er
the
hills,
And
deeper
sense
of
Beauty's
power
The
yearning
spirit
fills;-
If
God
through
every
change
can
keep
This
earth
so
good
and
fair,
We
raise
our
eyes
towards
heaven
and
say-
"What
Beauty
must
be
there!"
While
thus
the
face
of
nature
Was
beautiful
to
see,
Young
Alice
wept
in
sorrow
Beneath
the
old
elm-tree;
A
wild
bird
was
above
her
head,
And
by
her
side
a
flower,-
Oh
how
has
nature
o'er
her
heart
Thus
lost
its
charm
and
power?
She
has
been
to
Saratoga,
Where
crowds
of
Fashion
press,
And
her
dear,
cherished
home
no
more
Has
light
and
pleasantness;
But
deadlier
still
the
poison
That
such
deep
suffering
stirs-
The
power
of
Beauty
she
has
seen,
And
felt
it
was
not
hers!
She
has
seen
the
fair
Belinda,
-So
exquisitely
fair!-
Like
alabaster
flushed
with
life;
And
then
her
glorious
hair,
It
clustered
round
her
lovely
neck
Like
tendrils
round
a
vine,-
And
Alice
sighed
in
bitterness-
"Oh,
were
such
beauty
mine!"
Yet
not
the
pride
of
conquest
Her
troubled
bosom
filled-
The
fear
she
should
not
be
beloved,
-'Twas
this
her
being
chilled;
"Even
Arthur
Gray,"
thus
ran
her
thoughts,
"Some
fairer
girl
may
spy,-
Or
leave
me
for
Belinda;-
Oh,
if
I
could
but
die!"
While
thus
her
heart
was
wrestling
With
its
first
crushing
fear,
A
Voice
of
stern
command
out-spoke,
Close
to
her
startled
ear,-
"Go,
Maiden,
to
the
Haunted
Dell,
And
in
the
'Bloody
Spring,'
Where
the
spotted
toad
sits
drinking,
And
the
night-bat
laves
its
wing,
And
adder
snakes
are
coiling,
Bathe
thou
thy
face
and
hair-
Bathe
thrice,
not
breathe
a
word
or
sound,
And
then
thou
shalt
be
fair!"
She
started
from
the
Tempter!-
Her
heart
grew
stony
cold;
She
knew
such
gossip
stories-
There
was
a
legend
old,
How
a
maid
of
peerless
beauty
Was
murdered
in
that
Dell
By
wily,
ruthless
savages,-
And
how
her
fair
face
fell
In
a
lone
Spring,
thence
"Bloody"
called,-
And
those
who
found
her
there,
And
drew
her
gently
forth,
their
hands
Had
all
waxed
wondrous
fair.
Yet
still
she
felt
'twas
sinful
To
try
such
awful
spell,
'Twas
plain
that
naught
but
evil
Could
live
in
that
lone
dell;
No
human
foot
approached
it-
'Twas
far,
and
wild
the
way;
How
could
she
venture
there
alone,
This
timid
Alice
Ray?
But
still
the
wish
was
rising-
Oh,
that
she
could
be
fair!
She
looked
towards
the
haunted
dell,-
'Twas
not
such
distance
there;
The
sun
was
still
above
the
hill,
And
she,
before
'twas
night,
Might
go
and
come,
and
know
her
doom-
But
then,
would
this
be
right?
She
thought
of
all
strange
stories
That
she
had
read
or
heard.
Of
Cinderella's
Fairy
kind,
And
of
the
"talking
bird"-
Of
"Undine"
from
her
ocean
home,
Wild
Fancy's
loveliest
child,-
And
then
she
thought
of
"water
cures,"-
No
dream
could
be
more
wild!
But
yet
she
knew
her
Bible
Would
never
bid
her
go;
It
could
not
be
an
angel
Was
keeping
watch
below,
And,
pitying
her
hopeless
grief,
Was
counselling
its
cure-
Oh,
no,
'twas
not
an
angel-
'Twas
some
foul
demon
sure!
Such
demon
as
in
olden
times
Had
lured
young
girls
away,
In
guise
of
gallant
Troubadour,
Or
holy
Friar
grey,
And
now
was
lurking
round
her
path,
Her
precious
soul
to
win;
And
should
she
listen
to
his
wiles,
And
do
this
deadly
sin?
She
hurried
to
her
chamber,
To
'scape
the
dreadful
snare,-
The
words
of
that
commanding
Voice
Seemed
sounding
even
there,-
"Go,
maiden,
to
the
'Bloody
Spring,'
And
bathe
thy
face
and
hair,
Bathe
thrice,
nor
breathe
a
sound
nor
word,
-Thou
shalt
be
wondrous
fair."
