Her and her father—­she upon his arm. 
‘Paul—­O Paul!’ she said and gave her hand. 
I took it with a cold and careless air—­
Begged pardon—­had forgotten;—­’Ah—­Pauline?—­
Yes, I remembered;—­five long years ago—­
And I had made so many later friends,
And she had lost so much of maiden bloom!’
Then turning met her father face to face,
Bowed with cold grace and haughtily passed on. 
‘This is revenge,’ I muttered.  Even then
My heart ached as I thought of her pale face,
Her pleading eyes, her trembling, clasping hand! 
And then and there I would have turned about
To beg her pardon and an interview,
But pride—­that serpent ever in my heart—­
Hissed ‘beggar,’ and I cursed her with the lips
That oft had poured my love into her ears. 
’She marries gold to-morrow—­let her wed! 
She will not wed a beggar, but I think
She’ll wed a life-long sorrow—­let her wed! 
Aye—­aye—­I hope she’ll live to curse the day
Whereon she broke her sacred promises. 
And I forgive her?—­yea, but not forget. 
I’ll take good care that she shall not forget;
I’ll prick her memory with a bitter thorn
Through all her future.  Let her marry gold!’
Thus ran my muttered words, but in my heart
There ran a counter-current; ere I slept
Its silent under-tow had mastered all—­
‘Forgive and be forgiven.’  I resolved
That on the morning of her wedding-day
Would I go kindly and forgive Pauline,
And send her to the altar with my blessing. 
That night I read a chapter in this book—­
The first for many months, and fell asleep
Beseeching God to bless her. 
                            Then I dreamed
That we were kneeling at my mother’s bed—­
Her death-bed, and the feeble, trembling hands
Of her who loved us rested on our heads,
And in a voice all tremulous with tears
My mother said:  ’Dear children, love each other;
Bear and forbear, and come to me in heaven.’

“I wakened once—­at midnight—­a wild cry—­
‘Paul, O Paul!’ rang through my dreams and broke
My slumber.  I arose, but all was still,
And then I, slept again and dreamed till morn. 
In all my dreams her dear, sweet face appeared—­
Now radiant as a star, and now all pale—­
Now glad with smiles and now all wet with tears. 
Then came a dream that agonized my soul,
While every limb was bound as if in chains. 
Methought I saw her in the silent night
Leaning o’er misty waters dark and deep: 
A moan—­a plash of waters—­and, O Christ!—­
Her agonized face upturned—­imploring hands
Stretched out toward me, and a wailing cry—­
‘Paul, O Paul!’ Then face and hands went down,
And o’er her closed the deep and dismal flood
Forever—­but it could not drown the cry: 
‘Paul, O Paul!’ was ringing in my ears;
‘Paul, O Paul!’ was throbbing in my heart;
And moaning, sobbing in my shuddering soul
Trembled the wail of anguish—­’Paul, O Paul!’