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Article THE COUNTESS AND THE SERF* ← Page 22 of 23 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Countess And The Serf*
but he refused to share it , and I cast it off . How could I endure to bear it when Ivan had blasted it with his hate ?" Our story is nearly told . It ivas , indeed , the once fair and haughty Countess Zamoiska , ivho now shrank , timid ancl trembling , before the gaze of her horror-stricken cousin , —her dress stained ancl travel-wornher cheeks sunkenand her whole frame
, , wasted by the fever of disease . On recovering from the deathlike swoon into which she had fallen when repelled by Ivan , the first object upon which her eyes rested was the lifeless and disfigured countenance of her victim ; and the shock had at once unseated her reason . For months she had remained in her
paternal home , under the care ot a distant and needy relative , who had volunteered the painful charge ; at times , plunged in deep and passive despair—helpless , poAverless , and motionless ; and at others , the prey of wild and frantic delirium . A long period of calm , and apparent unconsciousness , had at length deceived her guardian , who had left her for a brief period
univatched ; ancl of this short interval the wretched girl had profited so cunningly , that when her absence from her chamber was discovered , she had already succeeded in effecting her escape from the castle , —when , some vague memory , as it was surmised , linking the idea of Wilna to that of Ivan , she had made her way to the city , where she was seeking him when she was discovered .
On the following morning , a party of the serfs who had been despatched in pursuit of the unhappy fugitive , arrived to claim her at the hands of her protectors ; and from them Eudoxia learnt the miserable history of the past . No marvel that formally clays she shrank from her wretched ancl guilty cousin , and abandoned herself to all the agonies of her crushed and outraged
spirit . Could she again clasp the sacrilegious hand ivhich had been raised against him wiiom she had herself so long looked upon as the noblest creature upon earth ? Could she again press to her own the heart which had conceived so foul a crime ? She deemed it impossible . But Eudoxia at length relented , as she
was led to the gloomy cell of her unhappy relative during one of her intervals of comparative lucidity . She heard her agonizingaccents of self-accusation and self-loathing ; she witnessed her tears she remembered ivhat they had once been to each other ; ancl , releasing herself from the supporting arm of her guide , she flung herself upon the floor beside the suffererfolded her
ten-, derly to her breast , and called her by her name in a voice which trembled with its intensity of emotion . On the succeeding day the cousins left Wilna under an efficient guard , and made then- melancholy Avay to the castle
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Countess And The Serf*
but he refused to share it , and I cast it off . How could I endure to bear it when Ivan had blasted it with his hate ?" Our story is nearly told . It ivas , indeed , the once fair and haughty Countess Zamoiska , ivho now shrank , timid ancl trembling , before the gaze of her horror-stricken cousin , —her dress stained ancl travel-wornher cheeks sunkenand her whole frame
, , wasted by the fever of disease . On recovering from the deathlike swoon into which she had fallen when repelled by Ivan , the first object upon which her eyes rested was the lifeless and disfigured countenance of her victim ; and the shock had at once unseated her reason . For months she had remained in her
paternal home , under the care ot a distant and needy relative , who had volunteered the painful charge ; at times , plunged in deep and passive despair—helpless , poAverless , and motionless ; and at others , the prey of wild and frantic delirium . A long period of calm , and apparent unconsciousness , had at length deceived her guardian , who had left her for a brief period
univatched ; ancl of this short interval the wretched girl had profited so cunningly , that when her absence from her chamber was discovered , she had already succeeded in effecting her escape from the castle , —when , some vague memory , as it was surmised , linking the idea of Wilna to that of Ivan , she had made her way to the city , where she was seeking him when she was discovered .
On the following morning , a party of the serfs who had been despatched in pursuit of the unhappy fugitive , arrived to claim her at the hands of her protectors ; and from them Eudoxia learnt the miserable history of the past . No marvel that formally clays she shrank from her wretched ancl guilty cousin , and abandoned herself to all the agonies of her crushed and outraged
spirit . Could she again clasp the sacrilegious hand ivhich had been raised against him wiiom she had herself so long looked upon as the noblest creature upon earth ? Could she again press to her own the heart which had conceived so foul a crime ? She deemed it impossible . But Eudoxia at length relented , as she
was led to the gloomy cell of her unhappy relative during one of her intervals of comparative lucidity . She heard her agonizingaccents of self-accusation and self-loathing ; she witnessed her tears she remembered ivhat they had once been to each other ; ancl , releasing herself from the supporting arm of her guide , she flung herself upon the floor beside the suffererfolded her
ten-, derly to her breast , and called her by her name in a voice which trembled with its intensity of emotion . On the succeeding day the cousins left Wilna under an efficient guard , and made then- melancholy Avay to the castle