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Upright in bed the King sat, pale with doubt
And gathering fear; his right hand he stretched out
To take the Queen's hand, but aback she drew,
Shuddering; and half he deemed the truth he knew,
As o'er her pale face and her bosom came

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Beneath his gaze a flush as if of shame:
“Wilt thou not speak, and make an end?” she cried.
Then he spake slowly: “Why dost thou abide
Without my bed to-night? why dost thou groan,
Whom I ere now no love-sick girl have known?”