The Project Gutenberg eBook ofLady ClareThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Lady ClareAuthor: Baron Alfred Tennyson TennysonRelease date: July 1, 2004 [eBook #6074]Most recently updated: February 8, 2013Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by David Starner and David Widger*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY CLARE ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Lady ClareAuthor: Baron Alfred Tennyson TennysonRelease date: July 1, 2004 [eBook #6074]Most recently updated: February 8, 2013Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by David Starner and David Widger
Title: Lady Clare
Author: Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson
Author: Baron Alfred Tennyson Tennyson
Release date: July 1, 2004 [eBook #6074]Most recently updated: February 8, 2013
Language: English
Credits: Produced by David Starner and David Widger
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY CLARE ***
22 illustrations by Alfred Fredericks, Granville Perkins, Frederic B. Schell, Edmund H. Garrett, F. S. Church and Harry Fenn
22 illustrations by Alfred Fredericks, Granville Perkins, Frederic B. Schell, Edmund H. Garrett, F. S. Church and Harry Fenn
Lady ClareA peaceful lake
It was the time when lilies blow,And clouds are highest up in air.
A lily-white doe
Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doeTo give his cousin, Lady Clare.
Lady Clare and Lord Ronald
I trow they did not part in scorn:Lovers long betrothed were they;
They two will wed the morrow morn;God’s blessing on the day!
A castle aside a swan-filled lake
“He does not love me for my birthNor for my lands so broad and fair;He loves me for my own true worth,And that is well,” said Lady Clare.
Lady Clare and Alice
In there came old Alice the nurse,Said, “Who was this that went from thee?”“It was my cousin,” said Lady Clare;“To-morrow he weds with me.”
The lovers by a lake
“Oh, God be thanked!” said Alice the nurse,“That all comes round so just and fair:Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands,And you are not the Lady Clare.”
Lady Clare and Alice
“Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse,”Said Lady Clare, “that ye speak so wild?”“As God’s above,” said Alice the nurse,"I speak the truth: you are my child.
The old earl’s daughter died at my breast;I speak the truth, as I live by bread!I buried her like my own sweet child,And put my child in her stead.”
Flowers around a picture frame
“Falsely, falsely have ye done,O mother," she said, “if this be true,To keep the best man under the sunSo many years from his due.”
“Nay now, my child,” said Alice the nurse,“But keep the secret for your life,And all you have will be Lord Ronald’s,When you are man and wife.”
Lady Clare removing her brooch
“If I’m a beggar born,” she said“I will speak out, for I dare not lie,Pull off, pull off the brooch of gold,And fling the diamond necklace by.”
“Nay now, my child,” said Alice the nurse,“But keep the secret all you can.”She said, “Not so; but I will knowIf there be any faith in man.”
“Nay now, what faith?” said Alice the nurse,“The man will cleave unto his right.”“And he shall have it,” the lady replied,“Though I should die to-night.”
Lady Clare talking to Alice under a treeLady Clare embracing her mother
“Yet give one kiss to your mother, dear!Alas, my child! I sinned for thee.”“O mother, mother, mother,” she said,“So strange it seems to me!
“Yet here’s a kiss for my mother dear,My mother dear, if this be so,And lay your hand upon my head,And bless me, mother, ere I go.”
Lady Clare and Lord Ronald
She clad herself in a russen gown,She was no longer Lady Clare:She went by dale, and she went by down,With a single rose in her hair.
Lady Clare and her doe
The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had broughtLeapt up from where she lay.Dropped her head in the maiden’s hand.And followed her all the way.
Down stepped Lord Ronald from his tower:“O Lady Clare, you shame your worth!Why come you dressed like a village maid,That are the flower of the earth?”
Lady Ronald meets Clare in front of his towerClare standing by the tower steps
“If I come dressed like a village maid,I am but as my fortunes are:I am a beggar born,” she said,“And not the Lady Clare.”
Flowers
“Play me no tricks,” said Lord Ronald,“For I am yours in word and in deed;Play me no tricks,” said Lord Ronald,“Your riddle is hard to read.”
Lord Ronald, Clare, and the doe
Oh, and proudly stood she up!Her heart within her did not fail:She looked into Lord Ronald’s eyes,And told him all her nurse’s tale.
Lord Ronald kissing Lady Clare
He laughed a laugh of merry scorn:He turned and kissed her where she stood;“If you are not the heiress born,And I,” said he, “the next in blood—
“If you are not the heiress born,And I,” said he, “the lawful heir,We two will wed to-morrow morn,And you shall still be Lady Clare.”
Finis