Yes, thou needest only carry thither thy shy pangs! Liana turned, and
saw her hastily and violently drying her eyes. Ah, hers too were indeed
full. When Rabette saw it, she said, courageously, "I absolutely cannot
hear it,--I must scream,--I am really ashamed of myself." "O thou dear
heart," cried Liana, joyfully falling upon her neck, "be not ashamed,
and look into my eye! Sister, come to me, as often as thou art troubled;
I will gladly weep with thy soul, and dry thy eye even sooner than my
own." There was an overmastering enchantment in these tones,--in these
looks of love, because Liana fancied she was mourning over some eclipsed
star or other of her life. And never did trembling gratitude embrace
more freshly and youthfully a venerated heart than did Rabette Liana.
And now came Albano. Awakened by the dying away of the cradle-song, he
had hurried after her, leaving all the cold and other drops unwiped from
his fiery cheeks. "What ails thee, sister?" he asked, hastily. Liana,
still lingering in the embrace and the inspiration, answered quickly,
"You have a good sister; I will love her as her brother does." The sweet
words of the so deeply affected souls and the fiery storm of his being
carried him away, and he clasped the embracing ones and pressed the
sisterly hearts to each other and kissed his sister; when, at the sight
of Liana's confused bending aside of her head, he was terrified and
flamed up crimson.
He must needs fly. With these wild agitations he could not stay in the
presence of Liana, and before the cold, mirroring glances of the
company. But the night was to be as wonderful as the day; he hastened
with live looks, that appeared like angry ones, out of the city to the
Titaness, Nature, who at once calms and exalts us. He went along by
exposed mill-wheels, about which the stream wound itself in foam. The
evening clouds stretched themselves out like giants at rest, and basked
in the ruddy dawn of America, and the storm swept among them, and the
fiery Briareuses started up; night built the triumphal-arch of the
milky-way, and the giants marched gloomily under. And in every element
Nature, like a storm-bird, beat her rustling wings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account