Page:Enoch Arden, etc - Tennyson - 1864.djvu/39

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ENOCH ARDEN.
23
It is beyond all hope, against all chance,That he who left you ten long years agoShould still be living; well then—let me speak:I grieve to see you poor and wanting help:I cannot help you as I wish to doUnless—they say that women are so quick—Perhaps you know what I would have you know—I wish you for my wife. I fain would proveA father to your children: I do thinkThey love me as a father: I am sureThat I love them as if they were mine own;And I believe, if you were fast my wife,That after all these sad uncertain years,We might be still as happy as God grantsTo any of his creatures. Think upon it:For I am well-to-do—no kin, no care,No burthen, save my care for you and yours:And we have known each other all our lives,And I have loved you longer than you know.’
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