Part 64 (1/2)
”Better, good Monsieur Schmolnitz?” mocked Madame Hesslein.
He rose unsteadily, and held by the back of a chair.
”Beast! traitress! you are my wife, are you?” hissed he, in a furious whisper. ”I had my doubts of you all the while. But this shall ruin you.”
”Oh, no, my excellent tailor, I am above your puny attacks. So, now that we have squared accounts, I will bid you a long adieu.”
She bowed to the floor, rose, and gave him one long, fierce, taunting glance.
He drew a pistol from his breast, took deliberate aim, and fired it full at her face, just as she closed the door. It missed her by a hair-breadth.
She looked in again with a diabolical laugh, and vanished; and he, too, fled by the opposite door, just as the hotel servants rushed in to quell the tumult.
CHAPTER x.x.xI.
BRAND PLUCKED FROM THE BURNING.
”Circles and circles of brightening light breaking over me; a faint, but delicious sense of comfort; a swift vanis.h.i.+ng of the distorted phantoms which have left me here for dead--a kind and dear awakening.
”What tender face is this that is bending over me? What soft bosom is this upon which my head is lying?
”Have I bridged at last the chasm of mortality, and is this my fate in the immortal world?
”I smile, if this be so, at the idle fears of those who prophesied for me a h.e.l.l. This is Heaven! What seraph is this who is bearing me upon her bosom after my fight with the throes of death? How soft and cool her hand, which bands my brow! Her wings are folded close, and she will not fly away; her breath wafts my weary eyelids like the zephyr born at the gates of Paradise.
”It was worth that long battle with the writhing furies, who would have chained me to Charon's boat, midway in the awful river, to be stranded here within these clinging arms.
”O spirit pure and tender! is this Christ-like care for me at your King's command? Am I done with earth and sin, and entered into rest upon your hallowed heart?
”Yes, the dark obscurity of earth no longer blinds me; I am reading the face of one who has gazed upon the Incarnate, and caught from Him beat.i.tude past utterance.
”How pure and above all earthly beauty are these holy lineaments! the essence of eternal love seems to shed from these eyes upon my languid soul; her rich tresses seem enwreathed with beams from the Fount of Joy; I am dazzled with the vision.”
The worn, white face of the sick man sinks more heavily upon the gentle bosom which supports it; but there is a fixed smile upon the blue lips of wonder and of triumph; there are tears stealing from the eyes which have been darkly fixed upward. The trembling soul who has been looking into the realm of Heaven, turns back at the yearning pressure of those arms, and new circles of brightening light and consciousness break over him, and St. Udo Brand looks up.
A damp, cool perfume breathes around him of flowers; he seems to be surrounded by those sweet comforters; flowers upon his breast, against his fevered face, upon his pillow; and soft arms are truly around him, and his head is lying upon the yielding breast of a woman.
”How is it that I am here?”
”Did my darling try to speak?”
”How strange! she is then some one to whom I am dear. I am indeed in Heaven, and this heavenly seraph is to be my guide and teacher. What made me suppose for an instant that I was back to earth?
”It is so much better than I deserve, pure spirit--so much better.”
”Did you say you felt better?”
”This vision is a woman? her heart seems bounding with joy; she bends closer with a sob of rapture; these holy eyes are dropping tears!