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31
SIR ALEXANDER'S DESK
In the wan shadow-land which lies
Hidden from sight of human eyes,
Half-way 'twixt here and Heaven,
You, my good grandfather, await
The utterance of that mandate
Which strikes all odd scores even.
I, still on earth, am curious
To know, could you but tell it us,
The whole veracious story
Of this, your dead and done romance,
When Bonaparte ruled in France,
And you won glory.
A case of coromandel wood,
Brass-bound, shield-locked, which I found stood
Aside in our old store-room,
