17 THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. BETWEEN the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour. I hear in the chamber above me The sound of a door that is opened, From my study I see in the lamplight, Descending the broad hall stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, And Edith with golden hair. A whisper, and then a silence: Yet I know by their merry eyes They are plotting and planning together To take me by surprise. A sudden rush from the stairway, A sudden raid from the hall! By three doors left unguarded They climb up into my turret They almost devour me with kisses, Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti, I have you fast in my fortress, And there will I keep you forever, Till the walls shall crumble to ruin And moulder in dust away! |