442 THE STAKE. 
And my soul, too full to know 
Need of worldly store or show, 
Knew not that its treasure lay 
Within reach of earth’s decay ; 
Felt not that its hopes were given 
Unto earth, and not to heaven ; 
Saw not, leaning on a reed, 
The dark doom such guilt incurs ; 
Thought not, dream’d not, that its creed 
Was the lost idolater’s. 
’T was not till in that wide hall, 
Where, with rude throngs gathering round us, 
We but felt that danger’s call 
To each other closer bound us, 
On my hush’d ear, like a knell, 
Cold the judge’s accents fell .— 
“«* In remembrance of thy birth, 
In memory of thy sire’s worth, 
In compassion for a soul 
Warp’d by evil men’s control, 
Lady, the Queen’s majesty 
Pardon extendeth unto thee.” 
As one who, hearing, heareth not, 
I nought comprehended wholly ; 
And as one who feareth not 
Stood I in that fearful spot, 
And the truth came to me slowly : 
Part they might, and part they would, 
Whom I thought no mortal could ! 
And, as if the spirit’s power 
Could avert the evil hour, 
As if strength of soul could charm 
Fetters from the lifted arm, 
Wildly I appealed to him 
Who stood manacled before me, 
With commanding lip and eye, 
Alterless as destiny : 
But all around me seem’d to swim, 
And a dizzy mist came o’er me; 
And all memories, sad and pleasant, 
