XVIII.
As soon as he his foot has lifted o’er
The threshold, he through court and gallery spies;
Nor sees the giant or the lady more,
And vainly glances here and there his eyes.
He up and down returns with labour sore,
Yet not for that his longing satisfies;
Nor can imagine where the felon thief
Has hid himself and dame in space so brief.
XIX.
After four times or five he so had wound
Above, below, through bower and gallery fair,
He yet returned, and, having nothing found,
Searched even to the space beneath the stair.
At length, in hope they in the woodlands round
Might be, he sallied; but the voice, which there
Roland recalled, did him no less recall,
And made as well return within the Hall.
XX.
One voice, one shape, which to Anglantes’ peer
Seemed his Angelica, beseeching aid,
Seemed to Rogero Dordogne’s lady dear,
Who him a truant to himself had made:
If with Gradasso, or with other near
He spake, of those who through the palace strayed,
To all of them the vision, seen apart,
Seemed that which each had singly most at heart.
