CAXTO II.

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The cause and conqueror in this sudden fra)',In haughty silence slowly strode away; 739He backed his steed, his home ward path he took,Nor cast on Otho’s towers a single look.

VI.

But where w r as he? that meteor of a night,Who menaced hut to disappear with light ?Where was this Ezzclin ? who came and wentTo leave no other trace of his intent.

He left the dome of Otho long ere morn,

Jn darkness, yet so well the path was wornHe could not miss it: near his dwelling lay;But there he was not, aud with coming dayCame fast enquiry, which unfolded nought jfmExcept the absence of the chief it sought.

A chamber tenantless, a steed at rest,llishoslalarmcd, his murmuring squires distrest:Their search extends along, around the path ,

In dread to meet the marks of prowlers’ wroth:But none are there, aud not a brake li*lh borne,Nor gout of blood, nor shred of mantle torn;Nor fall nor struggle hath defaced the grass,

W hich still retains a mark w here murder was;Nor dabbling lingers left to tell the tale, 7G0

The bitter print of each convulsive nail,

W hen agonized hands that cease to guard,W^ound in that pang the smoothing of the sward