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ALICE.
The clustered chimneys—cold and cheerless now!
No wreathing smoke bids welcome to the old
Ancestral hall, vacant and desolate,
But beautiful—how beautiful! The shrubs
Grown into trees, and blossoming profuse,
As in those flowery forests where they live,
Seen but of heaven.—Ha! beneath the trees—
'Tis they! It must be they! That slender woman,
Bending her fair and patient cheek o'er work
Scarce whiter than her hands—the widow's cap—
The close grey gown—the undying loveliness—
It is herself! And that young graceful girl,
Nor child, nor woman, who in colourless
And sculptural beauty stands, severely pure,
Pale as a water-lily—that is Alice!
Her eyes—would I could see her eyes!—are sealed
On that unconscious book.—I'll speak to them.
[Advancing to Mrs. Neville and Alice.
Madam, I pray you, pardon me!—This path,
So green and overgrown—doth this path lead
To Cleveland Hall?
No wreathing smoke bids welcome to the old
Ancestral hall, vacant and desolate,
But beautiful—how beautiful! The shrubs
Grown into trees, and blossoming profuse,
As in those flowery forests where they live,
Seen but of heaven.—Ha! beneath the trees—
'Tis they! It must be they! That slender woman,
Bending her fair and patient cheek o'er work
Scarce whiter than her hands—the widow's cap—
The close grey gown—the undying loveliness—
It is herself! And that young graceful girl,
Nor child, nor woman, who in colourless
And sculptural beauty stands, severely pure,
Pale as a water-lily—that is Alice!
Her eyes—would I could see her eyes!—are sealed
On that unconscious book.—I'll speak to them.
[Advancing to Mrs. Neville and Alice.
Madam, I pray you, pardon me!—This path,
So green and overgrown—doth this path lead
To Cleveland Hall?
Mrs. Neville.It doth—alas! it did.
The hall is silent now and tenantless;
None treads the moss-grown road.
The hall is silent now and tenantless;
None treads the moss-grown road.
Henry.What, is there none
Within the inhospitable walls, to cheer
The poor man's heart? Not one to ope the gate
To curious strangers, or the humbler wants
Within the inhospitable walls, to cheer
The poor man's heart? Not one to ope the gate
To curious strangers, or the humbler wants