So, purposing each moment to retire,
She lingered still. Meantime, across the moors,
Had come young Porphyro,[149] with heart on fire 75
For Madeline. Beside the portal doors,
Buttress'd[150] from moonlight, stands he, and implores
All saints to give him sight of Madeline,
But for one moment in the tedious hours,
That he might gaze and worship all unseen; 80
Perchance speak, kneel, touch, kiss--in sooth[151] such
things have been.
X
He ventures in: let no buzz'd whisper tell:
All eyes be muffled, or a hundred swords
Will storm his heart, Love's fev'rous citadel:
For him, those chambers held barbarian hordes, 85
Hyena[152] foemen, and hot-blooded lords,
Whose very dogs would execrations howl
Against his lineage: not one breast affords
Him any mercy, in that mansion foul,
Save one old beldame,[153] weak in body and in soul. 90