He gazed upon her as he stood apart,--with what emotions it were vain to say.She would wake no more to him; she could not know how dearly the safety of that sleep was purchased.That morrow she had so yearned for,--it had come at last.HOW WOULD SHEGREET THE EVE? Amidst all the exquisite hopes with which love and youth contemplate the future, her eyes had closed.Those hopes still lent their iris-colours to her dreams.She would wake to live! To-morrow, and the Reign of Terror was no more;the prison gates would be opened,--she would go forth, with their child, into that summer-world of light.And HE?--he turned, and his eye fell upon the child; it was broad awake, and that clear, serious, thoughtful look which it mostly wore, watched him with a solemn steadiness.He bent over and kissed its lips.
"Never more," he murmured, "O heritor of love and grief,--never more wilt thou see me in thy visions; never more will the light of those eyes be fed by celestial commune; never more can my soul guard from thy pillow the trouble and the disease.Not such as Iwould have vainly shaped it, must be thy lot.In common with thy race, it must be thine to suffer, to struggle, and to err.But mild be thy human trials, and strong be thy spirit to love and to believe! And thus, as I gaze upon thee,--thus may my nature breathe into thine its last and most intense desire; may my love for thy mother pass to thee, and in thy looks may she hear my spirit comfort and console her.Hark! they come! Yes! I await ye both beyond the grave!"The door slowly opened; the jailer appeared, and through the aperture rushed, at the same instant, a ray of sunlight: it streamed over the fair, hushed face of the happy sleeper,--it played like a smile upon the lips of the child that, still, mute, and steadfast, watched the movements of its father.At that moment Viola muttered in her sleep, "The day is come,--the gates are open! Give me thy hand; we will go forth! To sea, to sea!