Thomas Hardy — What did it mean?

What did it mean that noontide, when You bade me pluck the flower Within the other woman’s bower,        &nbsp Whom I knew nought of then? I thought the flower blushed deeplier - aye, And as I drew its stalk to me It seemed to breathe: “I am, I see, Made use of in a human play.” And while I plucked, upstarted sheer As phantom from the pane thereby A corpse-like countenance, with eye That iced me by its baleful peer -        &nbsp Silent, as from a bier . . . When I came back your face had changed,        &nbsp It was no face for me; O did it speak of hearts estranged,        &nbsp And deadly rivalry        &nbsp In times before        &nbsp I darked your door,        &nbsp To seise me of        &nbsp Mere second love, Which still the haunting first deranged?