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8
RUDYARD KIPLING'S VERSE
By reason of her marriage to a gentleman in power,Delilah was acquainted with the gossip of the hour;And many little secrets, of the half-official kind,Were whispered to Delilah, and she bore them all in mind.
She patronized extensively a man, Ulysses Gunne,Whose mode of earning money was a low and shameful one.He wrote for certain papers which, as everybody knows,Is worse than serving in a shop or scaring off the crows.
He praised her "queenly beauty" first; and, later on, he hintedAt the "vastness of her intellect" with compliment unstinted.He went with her a-riding, and his love for her was suchThat he lent her all his horses and—she galled them very much.
One day, They brewed a secret of a fine financial sort;It related to Appointments, to a Man and a Report.'Twas almost worth the keeping,—only seven people knew it—So Gunne rose up to seek the truth and patiently ensue it.
It was a Viceroy's Secret, but—perhaps the wine was red—Perhaps an Aged Councillor had lost his aged head—Perhaps Delilah's eyes were bright—Delilah's whispers sweet—The Aged Member told her what 'twere treason to repeat.
Ulysses went a-riding, and they talked of love and flowers;Ulysses went a-calling, and he called for several hours;Ulysses went a-waltzing, and Delilah helped him dance—Ulysses let the waltzes go, and waited for his chance.
