Britain ... - Blue-Lite

232 THE DEVOTED ONE. [Act V.
EDITH.
And hast thou so soon,
Amid the noisy stir and pomp of courts.
Remembrance lost of that wild orphan maid,
Thy playmate of the desert ? she who wandered
With thee, when grown to manhood, in the shades
Of Coitmaur's 36
forest, where ( ) thy young heart breathed
Such ardent vows of everlasting fondness,
Wishing all evil things on thee might fall
If thou didst her forsake ? And am not I
That forest-maid, that Edith, whom thou once
Didst love, or feigned to love, so very dearly ?
But thus attended,
My
GODWIN.
thus in regal state !
senses are bewildered ! This indeed
Must be some dream, more wild than any yet
My fancy hath imagined,
For real it cannot be. Full surely thou
With fairy spirits dost communion hold,
And they have o'er thee cast this bright illusion.
'Tis real all,
EDITH.
and though my dreams were not,
Like thine, of courtly splendours, yet am I
No more a peasant-maid, but play the part
To which by princely birth I am entitled.
Said I not, Godwin, we once more should meet,
And deep regret be thine ? Yes, we have met,
And here I come in bridal robes to claim
A spouse, whom I this happy night will wed
Before the assembled court.
GODWIN.
I own, indeed