Lucile :: :: University of Virginia Library

Lucile

By Owen Meredith [i.e. E. R. B. Lytton]

Lytton, Edward Robert Bulwer Lytton (1831-1891)

[epigraph]

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

II.

CANTO II.

LETTER FROM LORD ALFRED VARGRAVE TO THE COMTESSE DE NEVERS.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXIV.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

III.

CANTO III.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

IV.

CANTO IV. LETTER FROM COUSIN JOHN TO COUSIN ALFRED.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

CANTO V.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

IX. THE COMTESSE DE NEVERS TO LORD ALFRED VARGRAVE.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

VI.

CANTO VI.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

II.

PART II.

CANTO I.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

II.

CANTO II.

I. COUSIN JOHN TO COUSIN ALFRED.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

III.

CANTO III.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

IV.

CANTO IV.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

CANTO V.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

VI.

CANTO VI.

II.

III.

IV.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

XI.

XII.

XIII.

XIV.

XV.

XVI.

XVII.

XVIII.

XIX.

XX.

XXI.

XXII.

XXIII.

XXIV.

XXV.

XXVI.

XXVII.

XXVIII.

XXIX.

XXX.

XXXI.

XXXII.

XXXIII.

XXXIV.

XXXV.

XXXVI.

XXXVII.

XXXVIII.

XXXIX.

XL.

XLI.

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356

XXXVII.

While he yet
Watch'd the skies, with this thought in his heart; while he set
Thus unconsciously all his life forth in his mind,
Summ'd it up, search'd it out, proved it vapour and wind,
And embraced the new life which that hour had reveal'd,—
Love's life, which earth's life had defaced and conceal'd;
Lucile left the tent and stood by him.

Her tread
Aroused him; and, turning towards her, he said:
‘O Soeur Seraphine, are you happy?’

‘Eugène,
‘What is happier than to have hoped not in vain?’
She answer'd,—‘And you?’

‘Yes.’

‘You do not repent?’
‘No.’
‘Thank heaven!’ she murmur'd. He musingly bent
His looks on the sunset, and somewhat apart
Where he stood, sigh'd, as tho' to his innermost heart,
‘O blessed are they, amongst whom I was not,
‘Whose morning unclouded, without stain or spot,
‘Predicts a pure evening; who, sun-like, in light
‘Have traversed, unsullied, the world, and set bright!’

But she in response, ‘Mark yon ship far away,
‘Asleep on the wave, in the last light of day,

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‘With all its hush'd thunders shut up! Would you know
‘A thought which came to me a few days ago,
‘Whilst watching those ships?... When the great Ship of Life,
‘Surviving, though shatter'd, the tumult and strife
‘Of earth's angry element,—masts broken short,
‘Decks drench'd, bulwarks beaten—drives safe into port,
‘When the Pilot of Galilee, seen on the strand,
‘Stretches over the waters a welcoming hand;
‘When, heeding no longer the sea's baffled roar,
‘The mariner turns to his rest evermore;
‘What will then be the answer the helmsman must give?
‘Will it be... “Lo our log-book! Thus once did we live
‘In the zones of the South; thus we traversed the seas
‘Of the Orient; there dwelt in the Hesperides;
‘Thence follow'd the west wind; here, eastward we turn'd;
‘The stars fail'd us there; just here land we discern'd
‘On our lea; there the storm overtook us at last;
‘That day went the bowsprit, the next day the mast;
‘There the mermen came round us, and there we saw bask
‘A syren?” The Captain of Port will he ask
‘Any one of such questions? I cannot think so!
‘But...“What is the last Bill of Health you can show?”
‘Not—How fared the soul through the trials she pass'd?
‘But—What is the state of that soul at the last?’

‘May it be so!’ he sigh'd. ‘There! the sun drops, behold!’
And indeed, whilst he spoke all the purple and gold
In the west had turn'd ashen, save one fading strip
Of light that yet gleam'd from the dark nether lip

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Of a long reef of cloud; and o'er sullen ravines
And ridges the raw damps were hanging white screens
Of melancholy mist.

‘Nunc dimittis!’ she said.
‘O God of the living! whilst yet 'mid the dead
‘And the dying we stand here alive, and thy days
‘Returning, admit space for prayer and for praise,
‘In both these confirm us!

‘The helmsman, Eugène,
‘Needs the compass to steer by. Pray always. Again
‘We two part: each to work out Heaven's will: you, I trust,
‘In the world's ample witness; and I, as I must,
‘In secret and silence: you, love, fame, await;
‘Me, sorrow and sickness. We meet at one gate
‘When all's over. The ways they are many and wide,
‘And seldom are two ways the same. Side by side
‘May we stand at the same little door when all's done!
‘The ways they are many, the end it is one.
‘He that knocketh shall enter: who asks shall obtain:
‘And who seeketh, he findeth. Remember, Eugène!’
She turn'd to depart.

‘Whither? whither?’ ....he said.
She stretch'd forth her hand where, already outspread
On the darken'd horizon, remotely they saw
The French camp-fires kindling.

‘O Duc de Luvois,
‘See yonder vast host, with its manifold heart
‘Made as one man's by one hope! That hope 'tis your part

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‘To aid towards achievement, to save from reverse:
‘Mine, through suffering to soothe, and through sickness to nurse.
‘I go to my work: you to yours.’