The window punishes rheumatic folk--
We'd have it shut, sir.

_Others_. Truly, that we would.

_V_. Certainly, certainly, my friends, you shall.

[_The window is shut, and the Reading begins amid marked
attention_.




KISMET.


Into the rock the road is cut full deep,
At its low ledges village children play,
From its high rifts fountains of leafage weep,
And silvery birches sway.

The boldest climbers have its face forsworn,
Sheer as a wall it doth all daring flout;
But benchlike at its base, and weather-worn,
A narrow ledge leans out.

There do they set forth feasts in dishes rude
Wrought of the rush--wild strawberries on the bed
Left into August, apples brown and crude,
Cress from the cold well-head.