And still beneath all else methought I read
'_What will the lodgers think, having the dead_
_Within the house! how inconvenient!_'

What did the lodgers think? Well, I replied
In grief's set phrase, but 'the first floor,'
I fancy, frowned at first, as though indeed
Landladies' sisters had no right to die
And taint the air for nervous lodger folk;
Then smoothed his brow out into decency,
And said, 'how sad!' and presently inquired
The day of burial, ending with the hope
His lunch would not be late like yesterday.
The maiden-lady living near the roof
Quoted Isaiah may be, or perhaps Job--
How the Lord gives, and likewise takes away,
And how exceeding blessed is the Lord!--
For she has pious features; while downstairs
Two 'medicals'--both 'decent' lads enough--
Hearkened the story out like gentlemen,
And said the right thing--almost looked it too!
Though all the while within them laughed a sea
Of student mirth, which for full half an hour
They stifled well, but then could hold no more,
As soon their mad piano testified:
While in the kitchen dinner was toward
With hiss and bubble from the cooking stove,
And now a laugh from John ran up the stairs,
And a voice called aloud--of boiling pans.