1903 · CLOSE READING
Alice: An Adultery
Alice: An Adultery (1903), PDF p. 87
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THE TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY
“ But I perceive in you so excellent a touch
of modesty that you will not extort from me
what I am willing to keep in.”
Twelfth-Night.
A curious conflict this of love and fear,
Honour and lust, and truth and trust beguiled ;
One in the semblance of a rose-bright child :—
The other in a shape more gross and clear,
A fiercer woman-figure crowned severe
With garlands woven of scourges, but whose wild
Breast beat with splendour of sin, whose looks were mild,
Hiding the cruel smile behind a tear.
So she : “ I now you never would ; ” yet did
Such acts that no end otherwise might be.
So I : “ I will not ever pluck the flower ; ”
Yet strayed enchanted on the lawns forbid,
And bathed enamoured in the secret sea,
Both knowing our words were spoken—for an hour.
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