He started up with more of fear

Than if an arméd foe were near.

"God of my fathers! what is here?

Who art thou? and wherefore sent

So near a hostile armament?"

His trembling hands refused to sign

The cross he deemed no more divine:

He had resumed it in that hour,[pu] 540

But Conscience wrung away the power.

He gazed, he saw; he knew the face

Of beauty, and the form of grace;

It was Francesca by his side,

The maid who might have been his bride![pv]

The rose was yet upon her cheek,

But mellowed with a tenderer streak:

Where was the play of her soft lips fled?

Gone was the smile that enlivened their red.

The Ocean's calm within their view,[pw] 550

Beside her eye had less of blue;

But like that cold wave it stood still,

And its glance, though clear, was chill.[367]

Around her form a thin robe twining,

Nought concealed her bosom shining;

Through the parting of her hair,

Floating darkly downward there,

Her rounded arm showed white and bare:

And ere yet she made reply,

Once she raised her hand on high; 560

It was so wan, and transparent of hue,

You might have seen the moon shine through.