These learned, he returned home; and the next day presented Sir
Maurice with a scroll, containing the following lines:
"Twenty times shall Avon's tide
In chains of glistening ice be tied--
Twenty times the woods of Leigh
Shall wave their brunches merril
In spring burst forth in mantle gay,
And dance in summer's scorching ray:
Twenty times shall autumn's frown,
Wither all their green to brown--
And still the child of yesterday
Shall laugh the happy hour away.
That period past, another sun
Shall not his annual journey run,
Before a secret silent foe,
Shall strike that boy a deadly blow.
Such, and sure his fate shall be:
Seek not to change his destiny."
The knight read it; and in that age, when astrology was considered a
science as unerring as holy prophecies, it would have been little less
than infidelity to have doubted the truth of the prediction. Sir
Maurice, however, was wise enough to withhold the paper from his lady;
and in answer to her inquiries, continually asserted that the gipsey was
an impostor, and that the object of his assuming the character was
merely to increase her alms.
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