We came at last, alas! I see it yet, <br />With its open windows on the upper floor, <br />To a certain house still stirring, with lights set, <br />And just a chink left open of the door. <br />Here my companion stopped and bade me in; <br />Her dressmaker's, she said. And I, who heard <br />A sound of women's voices from within, <br />Shrank back alarmed and ready at a word <br />From any damsel stoutly to deny. <br />But ``Madame Blanche,'' she said to ease my fears, <br />``Is a good soul, and far too wise to pry <br />Or fancy evil of her customers <br />At any hour of the night they choose to come, <br />Much less of me.'' And so I followed dumb.<br /><br />Wilfrid Scawen Blunt<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/esther-a-sonnet-sequence-xliv/
