Jack, the monsters having "licked,"
Had, of course, their pockets picked,
And their keys and eke their riches
Had abstracted from their breeches.
"Ladies," he said, with a Chesterfield's ease,
Permit me, I pray you, to present you with these,"
And he placed in their hands the coin and the keys:
"So long having swung,
By your poor tresses hung,
Sure your nerves are unhinged though yourselves are unstrung;
To make you amends,
Take these few odds and ends,
This nice little castle, I mean, and its wealth;
And I 've only to say,
That I hope that you may
For the future enjoy the most excellent health."
Said the ladies—"Oh, thank you!—expressions we lack "—
"Don't mention it pray," said the complaisant Jack.
XIII.
Jack knelt and kissed the snow-white hands
Of the lovely ladies three;
Oh! who these matters that understands
But thinks, "would that I'd been he! "
Then he bids them adieu; "Au revoir," they cry.
"Take care of yourselves," he exclaims, "good bye!"