"Hush, and hearken!" she cried in fear,
"Hearest thou nothing, sister dear?"
"I hear the sea, and the plash of rain,
And roar of the northeast hurricane.
"Get thee back to the bed so warm,
No good comes of watching a storm.
"What is it to thee, I fain would know,
That waves are roaring and wild winds blow?
"No lover of thine's afloat to miss
The harbor-lights on a night like this."
"But I heard a voice cry out my name,
Up from the sea on the wind it came.
"Twice and thrice have I heard it call,
And the voice is the voice of Estwick Hall!"
On her pillow the sister tossed her head.
"Hall of the Heron is safe," she said.
"In the tautest schooner that ever swam
He rides at anchor in Anisquam.
"And, if in peril from swamping sea
Or lee shore rocks, would he call on thee?"
But the girl heard only the wind and tide,
And wringing her small white hands she cried,
"O sister Rhoda, there's something wrong;
I hear it again, so loud and long.
"'Annie! Annie!' I hear it call,
And the voice is the voice of Estwick Hall!"
Up sprang the elder, with eyes aflame,
"Thou liest! He never would call thy name!
"If he did, I would pray the wind and sea
To keep him forever from thee and me!"
Then out of the sea blew a dreadful blast;
Like the cry of a dying man it passed.
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