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86ARIADNE.tired head on them and caressed them;they werenot colder than his heart,Ithought."Oh, stones, it was no dream? Tell " me itwas no dream ? You heard him first! shemuttered, lyingthere, and then she crouched andwept and shuddered, and laid her soft mouthand beating breast to those senseless flags, becauseonce they had borne his feet and once hadheard his voice. Would he have laughed hadhe been there ? Perhaps.Idrew back into the gloom and let her be.She had no thought of me or any living thing,save of him by whom she had been forsaken:no thought at all.She was mad still,if Love be madness: — andnot the sublimest self-oblivion which can everraise the mortal to deity, asIthink.Ilet her be;she had fallen forward with herarms flung outward, and her head resting on thestones. Strong shudders shook her at intervalsin the convulsion of her weeping; but she wasotherwise still. The warmth from the burningwood fell onher, and touched to gold the loosethick coils of her hair. Iclosed the door, and
ARIADNE. 87went out and sat clown on the stair outside, andwaitedin the dark.Other womenone might have striven to consolewith tidings of the peace that lies in riches;butherIdared not. When a greatheart is breakingbecause all life and all eternity are ruined, whocan talk of the coarse foolish sweetness that liesfor fools and roguesingold? Icould not at theleast. Perhaps, because stitching there wherethe streetsmeet, and the fountain fallsin the openan by the river, gold has always seemed so littleto me: so great,indeed, as a tempter,but as acomforter — how poor.Isat still in the dark, andIdid not know howthe hours went;the lamp was burning below inthe wall of the twisting staircase, and there wasthe hum of the distant voices on the bridge, andthe sound of the waterwashingitself away underthe bridge arches, and now and then the beat ofoars.Ihad clone the best thatIcould, butitweighed on me as thoughIhad done somecrime.Perhaps she woulcl reproach me for havingbrought her back to consciousness,as the suicide,
- Page 44 and 45: 36ARIADNE.AndItook the other things
- Page 46 and 47: 38 ARIADNE.must have been, all alon
- Page 48 and 49: 40 ARIADNE.Ifelt my head whirl;I, w
- Page 50 and 51: 42 ARIADNE.at a line of the poem no
- Page 52: 44 ARIADNE.me, and stayed on in Par
- Page 55 and 56: ARIADNE. 47had been able to hear no
- Page 57 and 58: ARIADNE. 49aside in a little passag
- Page 59 and 60: ARIADNE. 51Myheart stood stUl. Ihad
- Page 61 and 62: ARIADNE. 53" Oh, my dear! Oh, my de
- Page 63 and 64: ARIADNE. 55He breathed quickly, the
- Page 65 and 66: ARIADNE. 57think he was cruel to he
- Page 67 and 68: ARIADNE. 59garden,Isaw a messenger
- Page 69 and 70: ARIADNE. 61'sorrowful,though knowin
- Page 71 and 72: ARIADNE. 63' Hush !it will be finis
- Page 73 and 74: ARIADNE. 65she is always asking;tha
- Page 75 and 76: ARIADNE. 67" Isuppose he never send
- Page 77 and 78: ARIADNE. 69agony,Irepented then hav
- Page 79 and 80: ARIADNE. 71thinking only of her;but
- Page 81 and 82: CHAPTER V— t—Next dayIgot such
- Page 83 and 84: ARIADNE. 75see them even. No doubt
- Page 85 and 86: ARIADNE. 77waters, and here and the
- Page 87 and 88: ARIADNE. 79Iwalked on and led her b
- Page 89 and 90: ARIADNE. 81shores, and on the domes
- Page 91 and 92: ARIADNE. 83motionless.Itouched and
- Page 93: ARIADNE. 85quiet and deserted; the
- Page 97 and 98: ARIADNE. 89"Yes,Iam here. Hush! spe
- Page 99 and 100: ARIADNE. 91to me, a Roman, to whom
- Page 101 and 102: ARIADNE. 93your avenger. Vengeancei
- Page 103 and 104: ARIADNE. 95spent their lives like w
- Page 105 and 106: ARIADNE. 97him! Do you not know ? W
- Page 107 and 108: ARIADNE. 99some fair pluckt flower
- Page 109 and 110: ARIADNE. 101arise, and the Spada Vi
- Page 111 and 112: ARIADNE. 103racked with pain. No su
- Page 113 and 114: ARIADNE. 105now become equally abso
- Page 115 and 116: ARIADNE. 107and the naked there wer
- Page 117 and 118: ARIADNE. 109saw them. He had been,
- Page 119 and 120: ARIADNE. 111their goodnight's sleep
- Page 121 and 122: ARIADNE. 113her feel she wasliving
- Page 123 and 124: ARIADNE. 115Spring had come,Isay, a
- Page 125 and 126: ARIADNE. 117nightingales, and so pi
- Page 127 and 128: ARIADNE. 119foul patrician jade wru
- Page 129 and 130: ARIADNE. 121aburied village when th
- Page 131 and 132: ARIADNE. 123But for mypromise to he
- Page 133 and 134: ARIADNE. 125parts of Rome; a turn o
- Page 135 and 136: ARIADNE. 127seek to go away. He sto
- Page 137 and 138: ARIADNE. 129speak the truth. Yetit
- Page 139 and 140: ARIADNE. 131seems to me that you ar
- Page 141 and 142: ARIADNE. 133beauty against the gran
- Page 143 and 144: ARIADNE. 135Hilarion laughed ahttle
86ARIADNE.tired head on them and caressed them;they werenot colder than his heart,Ithought."Oh, stones, it was no dream? Tell " me itwas no dream ? You heard him first! shemuttered, lyingthere, and then she crouched andwept and shuddered, and laid her soft mouthand beating breast to those senseless flags, becauseonce they had borne his feet and once hadheard his voice. Would he have laughed hadhe been there ? Perhaps.Idrew back into the gloom and let her be.She had no thought of me or any living thing,save of him by whom she had been forsaken:no thought at all.She was mad still,if Love be madness: — andnot the sublimest self-oblivion which can everraise the mortal to deity, asIthink.Ilet her be;she had fallen forward with herarms flung outward, and her head resting on thestones. Strong shudders shook her at intervalsin the convulsion of her weeping; but she wasotherwise still. <strong>The</strong> warmth from the burningwood fell onher, and touched to gold the loosethick coils of her hair. Iclosed the door, and