The Student's Second Tale - The Wayside Inn - Part Second

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    THE BARON OF ST. CASTINE

    Baron Castine of St. Castine
    Has left his chateau in the Pyrenees,
    And sailed across the western seas.
    When he went away from his fair demesne
    The birds were building, the woods were green;
    And now the winds of winter blow
    Round the turrets of the old chateau,
    The birds are silent and unseen,
    The leaves lie dead in the ravine,
    And the Pyrenees are white with snow.

    His father, lonely, old, and gray,
    Sits by the fireside day by day,
    Thinking ever one thought of care;
    Through the southern windows, narrow and tall,
    The sun shines into the ancient hall,
    And makes a glory round his hair.
    The house-dog, stretched beneath his chair,
    Groans in his sleep as if in pain
    Then wakes, and yawns, and sleeps again,
    So silent is it everywhere,--
    So silent you can hear the mouse
    Run and rummage along the beams
    Behind the wainscot of the wall;
    And the old man rouses from his dreams,
    And wanders restless through the house,
    As if he heard strange voices call.

    His footsteps echo along the floor
    Of a distant passage, and pause awhile;
    He is standing by an open door
    Looking long, with a sad, sweet smile,
    Into the room of his absent son.
    There is the bed on which he lay,
    There are the pictures bright and gay,
    Horses and hounds and sun-lit seas;
    There are his powder-flask and gun,
    And his hunting-knives in shape of a fan;
    The chair by the window where he sat,
    With the clouded tiger-skin for a mat,
    Looking out on the Pyrenees,
    Looking out on Mount Marbore
    And the Seven Valleys of Lavedan.
    Ah me! he turns away and sighs;
    There is a mist before his eyes.

    At night whatever the weather be,
    Wind or rain or starry heaven,
    Just as the clock is striking seven,
    Those who look from the windows see
    The village Curate, with lantern and maid,
    Come through the gateway from the park
    And cross the courtyard damp and dark,--
    A ring of light in a ring of shade.

    And now at the old man's side he stands,
    His voice is cheery, his heart expands,
    He gossips pleasantly, by the blaze
    Of the fire of fagots, about old days,
    And Cardinal Mazarin and the Fronde,
    And the Cardinal's nieces fair and fond,
    And what they did, and what they said,
    When they heard his Eminence was dead.

    And after a pause the old man says,
    His mind still coming back again
    To the one sad thought that haunts his brain,
    "Are there any tidings from over sea?
    Ah, why has that wild boy gone from me?"
    And the Curate answers, looking down,
    Harmless and docile as a lamb,
    "Young blood! young blood!    It must so be!"
    And draws from the pocket of his gown
    A handkerchief like an oriflamb,
    And wipes his spectacles, and they play
    Their little game of lansquenet
    In silence for an hour or so,
    Till the clock at nine strikes loud and clear
    From the village lying asleep below,
    And across the courtyard, into the dark
    Of the winding pathway in the park,
    Curate and lantern disappear,
    And darkness reigns in the old chateau.

    The ship has come back from over sea,
    She has been signalled from below,
    And into the harbor of Bordeaux
    She sails with her gallant company.
    But among them is nowhere seen
    The brave young Baron of St. Castine;
    He hath tarried behind, I ween,
    In the beautiful land of Acadie!

    And the father paces to and fro
    Through the chambers of the old chateau,
    Waiting, waiting to hear the hum
    Of wheels on the road that runs below,
    Of servants hurrying here and there,
    The voice in the courtyard, the step on the stair,
    Waiting for some one who doth not come!
    But letters there are, which the old man reads
    To the Curate, when he comes at night
    Word by word, as an acolyte
    Repeats his prayers and tells his beads;
    Letters full of the rolling sea,
    Full of a young man's joy to be
    Abroad in the world, alone and free;
    Full of adventures and wonderful scenes
    Of hunting the deer through forests vast
    In the royal grant of Pierre du Gast;
    Of nights in the tents of the Tarratines;
    Of Madocawando the Indian chief,
    And his daughters, glorious as queens,
    And beautiful beyond belief;
    And so soft the tones of their native tongue,
    The words are not spoken, they are sung!

    And the Curate listens, and smiling says:
    "Ah yes, dear friend! in our young days
    We should have liked to hunt the deer
    All day amid those forest scenes,
    And to sleep in the tents of the Tarratines;
    But now it is better sitting here
    Within four walls, and without the fear
    Of losing our hearts to Indian queens;
    For man is fire and woman is tow,
    And the Somebody comes and begins to blow."
    Then a gleam of distrust and vague surmise
    Shines in the father's gentle eyes,
    As fire-light on a window-pane
    Glimmers and vanishes again;
    But naught he answers; he only sighs,
    And for a moment bows his head;
    Then, as their custom is, they play
    Their little gain of lansquenet,
    And another day is with the dead.

    Another day, and many a day
    And many a week and month depart,
    When a fatal letter wings its way
    Across the sea, like a bird of prey,
    And strikes and tears the old man's heart.
    Lo! the young Baron of St. Castine,
    Swift as the wind is, and as wild,
    Has married a dusky Tarratine,
    Has married Madocawando's child!

    The letter drops from the father's hand;
    Though the sinews of his heart are wrung,
    He utters no cry, he breathes no prayer,
    No malediction falls from his tongue;
    But his stately figure, erect and grand,
    Bends and sinks like a column of sand
    In the whirlwind of his great despair.
    Dying, yes, dying!    His latest breath
    Of parley at the door of death
    Is a blessing on his wayward son.
    Lower and lower on his breast
    Sinks his gray head; he is at rest;
    No longer he waits for any one;

    For many a year the old chateau
    Lies tenantless and desolate;
    Rank grasses in the courtyard grow,
    About its gables caws the crow;
    Only the porter at the gate
    Is left to guard it, and to wait
    The coming of the rightful heir;
    No other life or sound is there;
    No more the Curate comes at night,
    No more is seen the unsteady light,
    Threading the alleys of the park;
    The windows of the hall are dark,
    The chambers dreary, cold, and bare!

    At length, at last, when the winter is past,
    And birds are building, and woods are green,
    With flying skirts is the Curate seen
    Speeding along the woodland way,
    Humming gayly, "No day is so long
    But it comes at last to vesper-song."
    He stops at the porter's lodge to say
    That at last the Baron of St. Castine
    Is coming home with his Indian queen,
    Is coming without a week's delay;
    And all the house must be swept and clean,
    And all things set in good array!
    And the solemn porter shakes his head;
    And the answer he makes is: "Lackaday!
    We will see, as the blind man said!"

    Alert since first the day began,
    The cock upon the village church
    Looks northward from his airy perch,
    As if beyond the ken of man
    To see the ships come sailing on,
    And pass the isle of Oleron,
    And pass the Tower of Cordouan.

    In the church below is cold in clay
    The heart that would have leaped for joy--
    O tender heart of truth and trust!--
    To see the coming of that day;
    In the church below the lips are dust;
    Dust are the hands, and dust the feet,
    That would have been so swift to meet
    The coming of that wayward boy.

    At night the front of the old chateau
    Is a blaze of light above and below;
    There's a sound of wheels and hoofs in the street,
    A cracking of whips, and scamper of feet,
    Bells are ringing, and horns are blown,
    And the Baron hath come again to his own.
    The Curate is waiting in the hall,
    Most eager and alive of all
    To welcome the Baron and Baroness;
    But his mind is full of vague distress,
    For he hath read in Jesuit books
    Of those children of the wilderness,
    And now, good, simple man! he looks
    To see a painted savage stride
    Into the room, with shoulders bare,
    And eagle feathers in her hair,
    And around her a robe of panther's hide.

    Instead, he beholds with secret shame
    A form of beauty undefined,
    A loveliness with out a name,
    Not of degree, but more of kind;
    Nor bold nor shy, nor short nor tall,
    But a new mingling of them all.
    Yes, beautiful beyond belief,
    Transfigured and transfused, he sees
    The lady of the Pyrenees,
    The daughter of the Indian chief.

    Beneath the shadow of her hair
    The gold-bronze color of the skin
    Seems lighted by a fire within,
    As when a burst of sunlight shines
    Beneath a sombre grove of pines,--
    A dusky splendor in the air.
    The two small hands, that now are pressed
    In his, seem made to be caressed,
    They lie so warm and soft and still,
    Like birds half hidden in a nest,
    Trustful, and innocent of ill.
    And ah! he cannot believe his ears
    When her melodious voice he hears
    Speaking his native Gascon tongue;
    The words she utters seem to be
    Part of some poem of Goudouli,
    They are not spoken, they are sung!
    And the Baron smiles, and says, "You see,
    I told you but the simple truth;
    Ah, you may trust the eyes of youth!"

    Down in the village day by day
    The people gossip in their way,
    And stare to see the Baroness pass
    On Sunday morning to early Mass;
    And when she kneeleth down to pray,
    They wonder, and whisper together, and say,
    "Surely this is no heathen lass!"
    And in course of time they learn to bless
    The Baron and the Baroness.

    And in course of time the Curate learns
    A secret so dreadful, that by turns
    He is ice and fire, he freezes and burns.
    The Baron at confession hath said,
    That though this woman be his wife,
    He bath wed her as the Indians wed,
    He hath bought her for a gun and a knife!
    And the Curate replies: "O profligate,
    O Prodigal Son! return once more
    To the open arms and the open door
    Of the Church, or ever it be too late.
    Thank God, thy father did not live
    To see what he could not forgive;
    On thee, so reckless and perverse,
    He left his blessing, not his curse.
    But the nearer the dawn the darker the night,
    And by going wrong all things come right;
    Things have been mended that were worse,
    And the worse, the nearer they are to mend.
    For the sake of the living and the dead,
    Thou shalt be wed as Christians wed,
    And all things come to a happy end."

    O sun, that followest the night,
    In yon blue sky, serene and pure,
    And pourest thine impartial light
    Alike on mountain and on moor,
    Pause for a moment in thy course,
    And bless the bridegroom and the bride!
    O Gave, that from thy hidden source
    In you mysterious mountain-side
    Pursuest thy wandering way alone,
    And leaping down its steps of stone,
    Along the meadow-lands demure
    Stealest away to the Adour,
    Pause for a moment in thy course
    To bless the bridegroom and the bride!

    The choir is singing the matin song,
    The doors of the church are opened wide,
    The people crowd, and press, and throng
    To see the bridegroom and the bride.
    They enter and pass along the nave;
    They stand upon the father's grave;
    The bells are ringing soft and slow;
    The living above and the dead below
    Give their blessing on one and twain;
    The warm wind blows from the hills of Spain,
    The birds are building, the leaves are green,
    And Baron Castine of St. Castine
    Hath come at last to his own again.



    FINALE

    "Nunc plaudite!" the Student cried,
    When he had finished; "now applaud,
    As Roman actors used to say
    At the conclusion of a play";
    And rose, and spread his hands abroad,
    And smiling bowed from side to side,
    As one who bears the palm away.
    And generous was the applause and loud,
    But less for him than for the sun,
    That even as the tale was done
    Burst from its canopy of cloud,
    And lit the landscape with the blaze
    Of afternoon on autumn days,
    And filled the room with light, and made
    The fire of logs a painted shade.

    A sudden wind from out the west
    Blew all its trumpets loud and shrill;
    The windows rattled with the blast,
    The oak-trees shouted as it passed,
    And straight, as if by fear possessed,
    The cloud encampment on the hill
    Broke up, and fluttering flag and tent
    Vanished into the firmament,
    And down the valley fled amain
    The rear of the retreating rain.

    Only far up in the blue sky
    A mass of clouds, like drifted snow
    Suffused with a faint Alpine glow,
    Was heaped together, vast and high,
    On which a shattered rainbow hung,
    Not rising like the ruined arch
    Of some aerial aqueduct,
    But like a roseate garland plucked
    From an Olympian god, and flung
    Aside in his triumphal march.

    Like prisoners from their dungeon gloom,
    Like birds escaping from a snare,
    Like school-boys at the hour of play,
    All left at once the pent-up room,
    And rushed into the open air;
    And no more tales were told that day.