Down thro' the bright lawns to his brother's ran,

And foam'd

away his heart at Averill's ear:

Whom Averill solaced as he might, amazed:

The man was his, had been his father's, friend :

He must have seen, himself had seen it long;

He must have known, himself had known: besides,

He never yet had set his daughter forth

Here in the woman-markets of the west,

Where our Caucasians let themselves be sold.

Some one, he thought, had slander'd Leolin to him.

'Brother, for I have loved you more as son

Than brother, let me tell you: I myself

What is their pretty saying? jilted, is it?
Jilted I was: I say it for your peace.
Pain'd, and, as bearing in myself the shame
The woman should have borne, humiliated,

I lived for years a stunted sunless life

e;

Till after our good parents past away
Watching your growth, I seem'd again to grow.
Leolin, I almost sin in envying you:

The very whitest lamb in all

my

fold

Loves you: I know her : the worst thought she has

Is whiter even than her pretty hand:

She must prove true: for, brother, where two fight The strongest wins, and truth and love are strength, And you are happy: let her parents be.'

But Leolin cried out the more upon them

Insolent, brainless, heartless! heiress, wealth,

Their wealth, their heiress! wealth enough was theirs

For twenty matches. Were he lord of this,

Why twenty boys and girls should marry on it,

And forty blest ones bless him, and himself

Be wealthy still, ay wealthier. He believed

This filthy marriage-hindering Mammon made.

The harlot of the cities: nature crost

Was mother of the foul adulteries

That saturate soul with body. Name, too! name, Their ancient name! they might be proud; its worth Was being Edith's. Ah how pale she had look'd

Darling, to-night! they must have rated her

Beyond all tolerance. These old pheasant-lords,

These partridge-breeders of a thousand years,

Who had mildew'd in their thousands, doing nothing
Since Egbert-why, the greater their disgrace!
Fall back upon a name! rest, rot in that!

Not keep it noble, make it nobler? fools,
With such a vantage-ground for nobleness!
He had known a man, a quintessence of man,
The life of all-who madly loved-and he,
Thwarted by one of these old father-fools,

Had rioted his life out, and made an end.

He would not do it! her sweet face and faith

Held him from that: but he had powers, he knew it :

Back would he to his studies, make a name,

Name, fortune too : the world should ring of him
To shame these mouldy Aylmers in their graves :
Chancellor, or what is greatest would he be-

O brother, I am grieved to learn your grief—
Give me my fling, and let me say my say.'

At which, like one that sees his own excess,

And easily forgives it as his own,

He laugh'd; and then was mute; but presently Wept like a storm: and honest Averill seeing How low his brother's mood had fallen, fetch'd His richest beeswing from a binn reserved

For banquets, praised the waning red, and told The vintage-when this Aylmer came of ageThen drank and past it; till at length the two, Tho' Leolin flamed and fell again, agreed

That much allowance must be made for men. After an angry dream this kindlier glow Faded with morning, but his purpose held.

Yet once by night again the lovers met,
A perilous meeting under the tall pines
That darken'd all the northward of her Hall.
Him, to her meek and modest bosom prest
In agony, she promised that no force,

Persuasion, no, nor death could alter her:

He, passionately hopefuller, would go,

Labour for his own Edith, and return

In such a sunlight of prosperity

He should not be rejected.

'Write to me!

They loved me, and because I love their child

They hate me : there is war between us, dear,

Which breaks all bonds but ours; we must remain
Sacred to one another.' So they talk'd,

Poor children, for their comfort: the wind blew ;
The rain of heaven, and their own bitter tears,
Tears, and the careless rain of heaven, mixt
Upon their faces, as they kiss'd each other
In darkness, and above them roar'd the pine.

So Leolin went; and as we task ourselves To learn a language known but smatteringly In phrases here and there at random, toil'd Mastering the lawless science of our law, That codeless myriad of precedent,

That wilderness of single instances,