Page:Twilight Hours (1868).djvu/91

There came a sudden dullness : we looked up ;
Within the doorway stood a figure grand,
A figure worse than horrid hideousness,
For this was horrid beauty. Tall and large,
With womanly dark hair that fell behind
A massive face, deep graven in strong lines
Around the lip and nostril, and the brow,
Where silken lashes, startled, stood upright,
Away from maniac eyes.
At length she spoke
In sonorous tones, that rolled upon the air
Like church bells tolling 'mid an earthquake's crash : —
" A Prynne can only love a Prynne :
Doom one.
The Prynne who weds a Prynne, weds Death:
Doom two.
The Prynne who weds not Death goes mad, like me :
Doom three."
" Mother ! " was all Mark said : long afterwards
I saw his face in death, less rigid, wan.
Beneath his voice she seemed to shrink and fall
Suddenly, to a woman old and weak.