Access Online - The European Library
Share Embed Flag
Download ePaper

Access Online - The European Library

Access Online - The European Library Access Online - The European Library

theeuropeanlibrary.org
from theeuropeanlibrary.org More from this publisher
08.07.2015 Views

244ARIADNE.three thousand years, and had yet not done hislabours.The sky waslike abrazen vessel,and the feet ofthe few passing people sounded always like thesteps of muffled mourners burying their dead.By night in the white streets there seemed to beno other thing than the masked men and thetorches and the dead.It wasnot a sickher season thananyother, theysaid;but thusit seemed everto me, andthenoiseof the fountains lost allmelody to my ears, andsounded only a duU hollow murmur, as of a seathat could neverwash out thecrimes of thebloodstainedearth.Iwandered stupidly to and fro, and nearlyalways, day and night, sat on the threshold ofher door, the dog beside me.Icould do her no good.Itis hard to suffer oneself; but not to be ableto spare from suffering what we love — that isworse. She was almost always silent. Silenceseemed to have fallen onher like a spell. Fromthe night when Giulio had told her the hideoustruth she had scarcely spoken, save once or twice,

ARIADNE. 245when she had cried out that she would go to him,by whom this death had come.She grew stiUer and stdler, whiter and whiter,day by day; nothing seemed alive in her saveher great, lovely, lustrous eyes; her limbs laymotionless.At timesIused to think that shewas changing into the marble she had loved somuch. At timesIgrew foohsh and mad, andwoulcl go to the place where Hermes stood andcaU aloud tohim to help her — he who had madewomen out of sport.But neither from Hermes nor from any othergod could any help come.One day she broke her silence and said to me," How long shall Ifive ? "Ibroke down and wept."As long as God wills! " Ianswered her, asany other woulcl have done, since we are used tospeak so — we who know nothing"ButIam near death?"" Oh, my dear! oh, my love! AVe cannottell! ""I can tell," she said slowly; then, for thefirst time since that awful night when she had

ARIADNE. 245when she had cried out that she would go to him,by whom this death had come.She grew stiUer and stdler, whiter and whiter,day by day; nothing seemed alive in her saveher great, lovely, lustrous eyes; her limbs laymotionless.At timesIused to think that shewas changing into the marble she had loved somuch. At timesIgrew foohsh and mad, andwoulcl go to the place where Hermes stood andcaU aloud tohim to help her — he who had madewomen out of sport.But neither from Hermes nor from any othergod could any help come.One day she broke her silence and said to me," How long shall Ifive ? "Ibroke down and wept."As long as God wills! " Ianswered her, asany other woulcl have done, since we are used tospeak so — we who know nothing"ButIam near death?"" Oh, my dear! oh, my love! AVe cannottell! ""I can tell," she said slowly; then, for thefirst time since that awful night when she had

logo

products

Resources

Company

Terms of service
Privacy policy
Cookie policy
Cookie settings
Imprint
Change language
Made with love in Switzerland
© 2024 Yumpu.com all rights reserved

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!