Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By GeorgeHoughton

1035 The Manor Lord

BESIDE the landsman knelt a dame,

And slowly pushed the pages o’er;

Still by the hearth-fire’s spending flame

She waited, while a hollow roar

Came from the chimney, and the breath

Of twice seven hounds upon the floor;

And, save the old man’s labored moan,

The night had no sound more.

The fire flickered; with a start

The master hound upflung his head;

Sudden he whined, when with one spring

Each hunter bounded from his bed,—

And through rent blind and bolted door

All voiceless every creature fled;

The blinking watcher closed her book;

“Amen, our lord is dead!”