There is a gentle nymph not far from hence,
he read,
That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream.
Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure;
Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine,
That had the sceptre from his father Brute.
The words, in spite of what Terence had said, seemed to be laden with
meaning, and perhaps it was for this reason that it was painful to
listen to them; they sounded strange; they meant different things from
what they usually meant. Rachel at any rate could not keep her attention
fixed upon them, but went off upon curious trains of thought suggested
by words such as "curb" and "Locrine" and "Brute," which brought
unpleasant sights before her eyes, independently of their meaning. Owing
to the heat and the dancing air the garden too looked strange--the trees
were either too near or too far, and her head almost certainly ached.
She was not quite certain, and therefore she did not know, whether to
tell Terence now, or to let him go on reading. She decided that she
would wait until he came to the end of a stanza, and if by that time she
had turned her head this way and that, and it ached in every position
undoubtedly, she would say very calmly that her head ached.
Sabrina fair,
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies knitting
The loose train of thy amber dropping hair,
Listen for dear honour's sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save!
But her head ached; it ached whichever way she turned it.
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