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"Lord Archibold could not speak a word, For his heart was almost broke. He turned to go. The carrion-crow At the window gave a croak. "'Now where art thou going, Lord Archie? she said, 'With thy lips so white and thin? 'Mother, good-bye; I am going to lie In the earth with my brother-twin. "Lady Margaret sank on her couch. 'Alas!
"'I clomb the wall of her castle tall, In the moon and the roaring wind; It was dark and still in her bower until The morning looked in behind. "'Turn therefore, John Gordon, false brother; For either thou or I, On a hard wet bed wet, cold, and red, For evermore shall lie. "'Oh, Archibold, Janet is my true love; Would I had told it thee! 'I hate thee the worse.
"'But I care not a crack for a soul so black, And thou may'st have it yet: I would let it burn to eternity, My brother alive to set. "The demon lifted his beaver up, Crusted with blood and mould; And, lo! John Gordon looked out of the helm, And smiled upon Archibold.
A white Christ's cross is on his back; In his breast a darksome sin. "And the white cross burned him like the fire, That he could nor eat nor rest; It burned in and in, to get at the sin, That lay cowering in his breast. "A mile from the shore of the Dead Sea, The army lay one night. Lord Archibold rose; and out he goes, Walking in the moonlight.
"But he turned himself on his gold-spurred heel, And away, with a speechless frown; And up in the oak, with a greedy croak, The carrion-crow claimed his own. "The sun looked over a cloud of gold; Lady Margaret looked over the wall. Over the bridge rode Archibold; Behind him his merry men all. "He leads his band to the holy land. They follow with merry din.
"'Thy soul is mine, brother Archie, he said, 'And I yield it thee none the worse; No devil came near thee, Archie, lad, But a brother to be thy nurse. "Lord Archibold fell upon his knee, On the blood-fed, bright green sod: 'The soul that my brother gives back to me, Is thine for ever, O God!"
"'Thou canst put no soul into his bones, Thy brother alive to set; For the sleep was thine, and thy soul is mine, And, Lord Archibold, well-met! "'Two words to that! said the fearless Earl; 'The sleep was none of thine; For I dreamed of my brother all the night His soul brought the sleep to mine.
The preamble charged us, in the stock language of Indictments for Blasphemy, as may be seen on reference to Archibold, with "being wicked and evil-disposed persons, and disregarding the laws and religion of the realm, and wickedly and profanely devising and intending to asperse and vilify Almighty God, and to bring the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion into disbelief and contempt."
The Dead Sea curdled to hear: 'Thou would'st have the worst of the bargain curst It has every fault but fear. "'Done, Lord Archibold? 'Lord Belzebub, done! His laugh came back in a moan. The salt glittered on, and the white moon shone, And Lord Archibold was alone.
"But well I wot that it was not The devil that took his part; But his twin-brother John, he thought dead and gone, Who followed to ease his heart. "Home came Lord Archibold, weary wight, Home to his own countree; And he cried, when his castle came in sight, 'Now Christ me save and see! "And the man in rust-brown, with his visor down, Had gone, he knew not where.
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