Leonora secretly cherished in her heart the hope of a happy future; but
she did not hesitate to inform her father of Gustave's visit. De
Vlierbeck heard her listlessly, and gave no other reply but a bitter
smile.
From that day Grinselhof became sadder and more solitary than ever. The
old gentleman might generally be seen seated in an arm-chair, resting
his forehead on his hand, while his eyes were fixed on the ground or on
vacancy. The fatal day on which the bond fell due was perhaps always
present to his mind; nor could he banish the thought of that frightful
misery into which it would plunge his child and himself. Lenora
carefully concealed her own sufferings in order not to increase her
father's grief; and, although she fully sympathized with him, no effort
was omitted on her part to cheer the old man by apparent contentment.
She did and said every thing that her tender heart could invent to
arouse the sufferer from his reveries; but all her efforts were in vain:
her father thanked her with a smile and caress; but the smile was sad,
the caress constrained and feeble.
If Lenora sometimes asked him, with tears, what was the cause of his
depression, he adroitly managed to avoid all explanations. For days
together he wandered about the loneliest paths of the garden, apparently
anxious to escape the presence even of his daughter. If she caught a
glimpse of him at a distance, a fierce look of irritation was
perceptible on his face, while his arms were thrown about in rapid and
convulsive gesticulations. If she approached him with marks of love and
devotion, he scarcely replied to her affectionate words, but left the
garden to bury himself in the solitude of the house.
An entire month--a month of bitter sadness and unexpressed suffering on
both sides--passed in this way; and Lenora observed with increased
anxiety the rapid emaciation and pallor of her father, and the
suddenness with which his once-lively eye lost every spark of its wonted
vivacity. It was about this time that a slight change in the old
gentleman's conduct convinced her that a secret--and perhaps a terrible
one--weighed on his heart. Every day or two he went to Antwerp in the
_calèche_, without informing her or any one else of the object of his
visit. He came back to Grinselhof late at night, seated himself at the
supper-table silent and resigned, and, persuading Lenora to go to bed,
soon went off to his own chamber. But his daughter was well aware that
he did not retire to rest; for during long hours of wakefulness she
heard the floor creak as he paced his apartment with restless steps.
Lenora was brave by nature, and her singular and solitary education had
given her a latent force of character that was almost masculine. By
degrees the resolution to make her father reveal his secret grew in her
mind. And, although a feeling of instinctive respect made her hesitate,
a restless devotion to the author of her being gradually overcame all
scruples and emboldened her for the enterprise.
One day Monsieur De Vlierbeck set off very early for town. The morning
wore away heavily; and, toward the afternoon, Lenora wandered wearily
about the desolate house, with no companion but her sad reflections. At
length she entered the apartment where her father usually studied or
wrote, and, after a good deal of hesitation, in which her face and
gestures displayed the anxiety of her purpose, opened the table-drawer,
and saw in it, unrolled, a written document. The paleness of death
overspread her countenance as she perused the paper and instantly closed
the drawer. After this she left the apartment hastily, and, returning to
her chamber, sat down with hands clasped on her knees and eyes fixed on
the floor in a stare of wild surprise.
"_Sell Grinselhof!_" exclaimed she. "Sell Grinselhof! Why? Monsieur
Denecker insulted my father because we were not rich enough for him.
What is this secret? and what does it all mean? If it should be _true_
that we are beggars! Oh, God! does a ray of light penetrate my mind? is
this the solution of the enigma and the cause of my father's
depression?"
For a long time she remained motionless in her chair, absorbed in
reverie; but gradually her face brightened, her lips moved, and her eyes
glistened with resolution. As she was endeavoring to fight bravely
against misfortune, she suddenly heard the wheels of her father's
_calèche_ returning to Grinselhof. She ran down instantly to meet him;
and as he drew up at the door she perceived the poor sufferer buried in
a corner of the vehicle, apparently deprived of all consciousness; and,
when he descended from the vehicle and she saw his expression
distinctly, the deadly pallor that covered his haggard cheeks almost
made her sink to the earth with anxiety. Indeed, she had neither heart
nor strength to utter a word to him; but, standing aside in silence, she
allowed the old man to enter the house and bury himself as usual in his
chamber.
For some minutes she stood on the door-sill, undecided as to what she
should do; but by degrees her brow and cheeks began to redden, and the
light of resolution shone in her moistened eyes.
"Ought the feeling of respect to restrain me longer?" said she to
herself; "shall I let my father die without an effort? No! no! I must
know all! I must tear the worm from his heart; I must save him by my
love!"
Without a moment's further delay, she ran rapidly through three or four
chambers, and came to the apartment where her father was seated with his
elbows resting on the table and his head buried in his hands. Throwing
herself on her knees at his feet, and with hands raised to him in
supplication,--
"Have mercy on me, father!" exclaimed she; "have mercy on me, I beseech
you on my knees; tell me what it is that distresses you! I must know why
it is that my father buries himself in this solitude and seems to fly
even from his child!"
"Lenora! thou last and only treasure that remainest to me on earth,"
replied De Vlierbeck, in a broken voice, with despair in his wild
gaze,--"thou hast suffered, dreadfully, my child, hast thou not? Rest thy
poor head in my bosom. A terrible blow, my child, is about to fall on
us!"
Lenora did not seem to pay any attention to these remarks, but,
disengaging herself from her father's embrace, replied, in firm and
decided tones,--
"I have not come here, father, for consolation, but with the unalterable
determination to learn the cause of your suffering. I will not go away
without knowing what misfortune it is that has so long deprived me of
your love. No matter how much I may venerate you and respect your
silence, the sense of duty is greater even than veneration. I must--I
_will_--know the secret of your grief!"
"Thou deprived of thy father's love?" exclaimed De Vlierbeck,
reproachfully and with surprise;--love for thee, my adored child, is
precisely the secret of my grief. For ten years I have drained the
bitter cup and prayed the Almighty to make you happy; but, alas! my
prayers have always been unheard!"
"Shall I be unhappy, then?" asked Lenora, without betraying the least
emotion.
"Unhappy, because of the misery that awaits us," replied her father.
"The blow that is about to fall on our house destroys all that we
possess. We must leave Grinselhof."
The last words, which plainly confirmed her fears, seemed for a moment
to appall the girl; but she repressed her feelings, and answered him,
with increased courage,--
"You are not dying this slow death because ill-fortune has overtaken
_you_, my father; I know the unconquerable force of your character too
well for that. No! your heart is weak and yielding because _I_ have to
partake your poverty! Bless you, bless you, for your affection! But,
tell me, father, if I were offered all the wealth of the world on
condition that I would consent to see you suffer for a single day, what
think you I would answer?"
Dumb with surprise, the poor man looked proudly at his daughter, and a
gentle pressure of her hand was his sole reply.
"Ah!" continued she, "I would refuse all the treasures of earth and meet
poverty without a sigh. And you, father,--if they offered you all the
gold of America for your Lenora, what would you do?"
"How can you ask, child?" exclaimed her father; "do we sell our hearts'
blood for gold?"
"And so," continued the girl, "our Maker has left us that which is
dearest to us both in this world; why then should we mourn when we ought
to be grateful for his compassionate care? Take heart once more, dear
father; no matter what may be our future lot,--should we even be forced
to take refuge in a hovel,--nothing can harm us as long as we are not
separated!"
Smiles, astonishment, admiration, and love, by turns flitted over the
wan features of the poor old man, who seemed altogether unnerved and
disconcerted by the painful _dénouement_. At length, after some moments
of unbroken silence, he clasped his hands, and, gazing intensely into
her eyes through his starting tears--
"Lenora, Lenora! my child!" he exclaimed, "thou art not of earth--thou
art an angel! The unselfish grandeur of thy soul unmans me completely!"
She saw she had conquered. The light of courage was rekindled again in
her father's eye, and his lofty brow was lifted once more under the
sentiment of dignity and self-devotion that struggled for life in his
suffering heart. Lenora looked at him with a heavenly smile, and
exclaimed, rapturously,
"Up! up! father; come to my arms; away with grief! United in each
other's love, fate itself is powerless in our presence!"
Father and daughter sprang into each other's arms, and for a long while
remained speechless, wrapped in a tender embrace; then, seating
themselves with their hands interlocked, they were silent and absorbed,
as if the world and its misery were altogether forgotten.
"A new life--a new and refreshing current of blood--seems to have been
suddenly poured into my veins," said Monsieur De Vlierbeck. "Alas,
Lenora, what a sinner I have been! how wrong I was not to divulge all!
But you must pardon me, beloved child; you must pardon me. It was the
fear of afflicting you--the hope of finding some means of rescue, of
escape--that sealed my lips. I did not know you, my daughter; I did not
know the inestimable treasure that God in his mercy had lavished on me!
But _now_ you shall know all; I will no longer hide the secret of my
conduct and my grief. The fatal hour has come; the blow I desired to
ward off is about to fall and cannot be turned aside! Are you prepared,
dear child, to hear your father's story?"
Lenora, who was delighted to behold the calm and radiant smile that
illuminated the face of her heart-broken parent, answered him instantly,
in caressing tones,--
"Pour all your woes into my heart, dear father, and conceal nothing. The
part I have to perform must be based on complete knowledge of every
thing; and you will feel how much your confidence relieves your burdened
soul."
"Take, then, your share of suffering, daughter," replied De Vlierbeck,
"and help me to bear my cross! I will disguise nothing. What I am about
to disclose is indeed lamentable; yet do not tremble and give way at the
recital, for, if any thing should move you, it must be the story of a
father's torture. You will learn now, my child, why Monsieur Denecker
has had the hardihood to behave toward us as he has done."
He dropped her hand, but, without averting his eager gaze from her
anxious eyes, continued:--
"You were very young, Lenora, but gentle and loving as at present, and
your blessed mother found all her happiness centered in your care and
comfort. We dwelt on the lands of our forefathers; nothing disturbed the
even tenor of our simple lives; and, by proper economy, our moderate
income sufficed to support us in a manner becoming our rank and name.
"I had a younger brother, who was endowed with an excellent heart, but
generous to a fault and somewhat imprudent. He lived in town, and
married a lady of noble family who was no richer than himself. She was
showy in her tastes and habits, and, I fear, induced him to increase his
revenue by adventurous means. There can be no doubt that he speculated
largely in the public funds. But probably you do not understand what
this means, my child. It is a species of _gambling_, by which a man may
in a moment gain millions; and yet it is a game that may, with equal
rapidity, plunge him into the depths of misery and reduce him as if by
magic to the condition of a beggar.
"At first, my brother was remarkably successful, and established himself
in town in a style of living that was the envy of our wealthiest
citizens. He came to see us frequently, bringing you, who were his
godchild, a thousand beautiful presents, and lavished his affection with
testimonials of kindness which were proportioned to his fortune. I spoke
to him often about the dangerous character of his adventures, and
endeavored to convince him that it was unbecoming a gentleman to risk
his property upon the hazards of an hour; but, as continued success
emboldened him more and more, the passion for gambling made him deaf to
all my appeals, all my advice.
"At last the evil hour came! The luck which had so long favored him
became inconstant; he lost a considerable portion of his gains, and saw
his fortune diminishing with every venture. Still, courage did not fail
him; but, on the contrary, he seemed to fight madly against fate, with
the idle hope of forcing fortune to turn once more in his favor. But,
alas, it was a fatal delusion!
"One night--I tremble as I recall it--I was in my chamber and nearly
ready to retire; you were already in bed, and your mother was saying her
prayers on her knees beside your little couch. A tremendous storm raged
without: hail beat in torrents against the windows, and the wind howled
in the chimneys and swayed the trees as if it was about to blow down the
house. The violence of the tempest began to make me somewhat anxious,
when suddenly the door-bell was pulled and the sound of horses heard at
the gate. In a moment the summons was answered by one of our
servants,--for we kept two then,--and a female rushed into the room,
throwing herself in tears at my feet. It was my brother's wife!
"Trembling with fright, I of course hastened to raise her; but she
clung to my knees, begging my assistance, imploring me, by every
passionate appeal she could think of, to save her husband's life, and
convincing me by her sobs and distraction that some frightful calamity
was impending over my brother!
"Your mother joined me eagerly in my efforts to calm the sufferer, and
by degrees we managed to extract the cause of her singular conduct and
unseasonable visit. My brother--alas!--had lost all he possessed, and
even more! His wife's story was heart-rending; but its conclusion filled
us with more anxiety for her husband than his losses; for, overcome by
the certainty of a dishonored name, haunted by the reflection that law
and justice would soon overtake him, my poor brother had made an attempt
upon his life! The hand of God had providentially guided his wife to the
apartment, where she surprised him at the fatal moment and snatched the
deadly instrument from his grasp! He was then locked up in a room; dumb,
overcome, bowed down to the earth, and guarded by two faithful friends.
If any one on earth could save him, it was surely his brother!
"Such was the wild appeal of my wretched sister-in-law, who, heedless of
the stormy night, had thrown herself into a coach and fled to me,
through the tempest, as her only hope for their salvation. There she was
at my feet, bathed in tears, sobbing, screaming, beseeching me to
accompany her to town. _Could I--did I_--hesitate? Your tender mother,
who saw at once the frightful condition of the family, and sympathized
as woman's heart alone can do with human misery, eagerly implored me not
to lose a moment. 'Save him, save him!' exclaimed she; 'spare nothing: I
will consent to every thing you may think proper to do or sacrifice!'
"We flew back to town through the storm and darkness. You grow pale,
Lenora, at the very thought of it, for it was indeed frightful, and you
can never know the impression it made on me: these whitened
hairs--whitened before their time--are the records of that terrible
night! But let me continue.
"It is needless to describe the wild despair in which I found my
brother, or to tell you how long I had to wrestle with his spirit in
order to force a ray of hope into his soul. There was but one means by
which we could save his honor and life; but--oh God!--at what a
sacrifice! I was obliged to pledge all my property as security for his
debts. Nothing could be spared; our ancestral manor-lands, your mother's
marriage-portion, your moderate dowry,--all were ventured with the
certainty that the greater part would unquestionably be lost! On these
hard conditions my brother's honor might be saved; and, if that could be
rescued, he was willing to renounce the determination to escape shame by
death. I must in justice say that it was not he who demanded the
sacrifice from me: on the contrary, he did not suppose that I could or
would make it; but I was satisfied in my mind that if I did not settle
his affairs, at all hazards, he would execute his criminal project
against his life. And yet--and yet, my child--_I hesitated!_"
"Father!" exclaimed Lenora, "_you did not refuse!_"
A happy smile beamed on his face as he met the questioning glance of his
daughter and answered, firmly,--
"I loved my brother, Lenora; but I loved _you_, my only child, much
more. The sacrifice demanded of me by his creditors insured misery for
your mother and for you!"
"Oh, God! oh, God!" sobbed Lenora.
"On one side my heart was distracted by this dreadful thought, while on
the other I was assailed by the despair that was present in the
bankrupt's chamber; but generosity conquered in the awful trial, and at
daylight I sought out the principal creditors and signed the documents
that saved a brother's life and honor but gave up my wife and child to
want."
"Thank God!" gasped Lenora, as if she had been relieved from a horrible
nightmare. "Bless you, bless you, father, for your noble, generous
conduct!"
She rose from her seat, and, passing her arms around his neck, gave him
a glowing kiss with as much solemnity as if she had been anxious to
endue this mark of love with all the fervor and sacredness of a
benediction.
"Ah! but canst thou bless me, my child," said he, with eyes foil of
gratitude, "for an act that should implore thy pardon?"
"_My_ pardon, father!" exclaimed Lenora, with surprise on all her
features. "Oh, had you done otherwise, what would I not have suffered in
doubting the goodness of my parent's heart! Now, now, I love you more
than ever! _Pardon you_, father? Is it a crime to save a brother's life
when it is in your keeping?"
"Alas, Lenora, the world does not reason thus, and never forgives us for
the guilt of poverty. Reduced to that, we suffer humiliations which any
one may observe in the lives of multitudes of our nobles. Yes; society
regards poverty as a crime, and it treats us like outcasts. Our equals
avoid us in order not to be confounded in our misery; while peasants and
tradesmen laugh at our misfortune as if it was a sort of agreeable
revenge. Happy, happy they to whom heaven has given an angel to pour
comfort and consolation into their hearts in hours of want and
dejection! But listen, my child!
"My brother was saved, and I concealed most carefully the assistance I
had been to him; he left the country and went with his wife to America,
where, ever since, he has worked hard and gained hardly enough to
support a miserable existence. His wife died during the voyage. And, as
to ourselves, we no longer possess any thing; for Grinselhof and our
other lands were mortgaged for more than they were worth. Besides this,
I was forced to borrow from a gentleman of my acquaintance four thousand
_francs_ upon my bond.
"When your mother heard of the sacrifices to which I was forced to
submit, she made no reproaches; at first she fully approved my conduct.
But very soon we became necessarily subjected to privations under which
your mother's strength declined, till, without a sigh or complaint, she
began to fade away slowly from earth. It was a dreadful situation; for,
to conceal our ruin and save our ancestral name from contempt, we were
forced to part with the last ounce of our silver to pay the interest on
our debts. Gradually our horses and servants disappeared; the paths that
led to our neighbors soon became grass-grown; and we declined all social
invitations, so as to avoid the necessity of returning the compliment. A
rumor about us began to spread through the village and among the noble
families that had formerly been on terms of intimacy with us; and
scandal declared that _avarice_ had driven us to a life of meanness and
isolation! We joyously accepted the imputation, and even the coldness
with which our holiday friends accompanied it; it was a veil with which
society thought proper to cover us, and beneath its folds our poverty
was safe from scrutiny.
"But I am approaching scenes, my child, the recollection of which almost
unnerves me. My story has reached the most painful moment of my life,
and I beseech you to hear me calmly.
"Your poor mother wasted away to a skeleton; her sunken-eyes were
hardly visible in their deep sockets; a livid pallor suffused her
cheeks. As I saw her fading,--fading,--the wife whom I had loved more
than life,--as I gazed on those death-struck features and saw the fatal
evidences each day clearer and clearer,--I became nearly mad with
despair and grief."
Lenora shuddered with emotion as her breast heaved convulsively under
the sobs she strove to repress. Her father stopped a moment, almost
overcome by the recital; but, rallying his courage quickly, he forced
himself to go on with his sad recollections:--
"Poor mother! she did nothing but weep! Every time she looked at her
child--her dear little Lenora--tears filled her eyes. Thy name was
always on her lips, as if she were forever addressing a prayer for thee
to God in heaven! At last the dreadful hour arrived when she heard the
Almighty's voice summoning her above. The clergyman performed the
services for the dying; and you, my child, had been taken from her arms
and sent out of the house. It was midnight, and I was alone with her
whose icy lips had already imprinted on mine their last sad kiss. My
heart bled. Oh, God! how wretched--how wretched--were those parting
hours! My beloved wife lay there before me as if already a corpse, while
the tears yet trickled down her hollow cheeks and she strove to utter
your name with her expiring breath. Kneeling beside her, I implored
God's mercy for her passing hour, and kissed away the sweat of agony
that stood upon her brow. Suddenly I thought I perceived an effort to
speak, and, bending my ear to her lips, she called me by name, and said,
'It is over, my love, it is over; farewell! It has not pleased the
Almighty to assuage my dying hour, and I go with the conviction that my
child will suffer want and wretchedness on earth!'
"I know not what my love inspired me to say in that solemn moment; but I
called God to witness that you _should_ escape suffering, and that your
life should be happy! A heavenly smile illuminated her eyes, and she
believed my promise. With an effort, she lifted her thin hands once more
round my neck and drew my lips to hers. But soon those wasted arms fell
heavily on the bed;--my Margaret was gone;--thy mother was no more!"
De Vlierbeck's head fell on his breast. Lenora's bosom heaved
convulsively as she took his hand without uttering a word; and, for a
long time, nothing was heard in that sad confessional but the sobs of
the maiden and the sighs of her heart-broken father.
"What I have yet to say," continued the poor gentleman, "is not so
painful as what I have already told you: it concerns only myself.
Perhaps it would be better if I said nothing about it; but I need a
friend who possesses all my confidence and can sympathize with me
thoroughly in all I have undergone for the last ten years.
"Listen, then, Lenora. Your mother was no more; she was gone;--she who
was my last staff in life! I remained at Grinselhof alone with you, my
child, and with my promise,--a promise made to God and to the dead! What
should I do to fulfil it? Quit my hereditary estate? wander away seeking
my fortune in foreign lands, and work for our mutual support? That would
not do, for it would have devoted you at once to the chances of a
wretched uncertainty. I could not think of such a course with any degree
of satisfaction; nor was it till after long and anxious reflection that
a ray of hope seemed to promise us both a happy future.
"I resolved to disguise our poverty more carefully than ever, and to
devote my time to the most elaborate cultivation of your mind. God made
you beautiful in face and person, Lenora; but your father was anxious to
initiate you into the mysteries of science and art, and, while he
endowed you with a knowledge of the world, to make you virtuous, pious,
and modest. I desired to make you an accomplished woman, and I hoped
that the nobility of your blood, the charms of your beauty, the
treasures of your heart and intellect, would compensate in society for
the portion that was denied you. Thus was it, my child, that I thought
in time, you would make a suitable alliance which would restore you to
the position you hold by birth. For ten years, Lenora, this has been my
occupation and my hope. What I had forgotten or never learned, I studied
at night to teach you next morning; I labored hard that I might not only
instruct you wisely but that you might acquire easily; and, at the same
time, I strove by every honest means to conceal from you every thing
that could give a hint or cause a suspicion by which your life might be
shadowed. Oh, Lenora,--shall I confess it?--I have suffered hunger and
undergone the most cruel privations; I have passed half my nights
mending my clothes, working in the garden, studying and practising in
the dark, so as to hide our poverty from you and the world. But all that
was nothing; in the silence of night I was not forced to blush before
any one. By day I had to encounter all kinds of insults, and, with a
bleeding heart, swallow affront and humiliation."
Lenora looked at her father with eyes moistened by compassion. De
Vlierbeck pressed her hand, and continued:--
"Be not sad, Lenora; if the Lord's hand inflicted deep wounds with every
blow, he bestowed a balm which cured them. One little smile of thy
gentle face was sufficient to make me pour forth an ejaculation to
Heaven: you, you at least were happy, and in your happiness I saw the
fulfilment of my promise!
"At length I thought that God himself had thrown in our path one who
would save you from threatening danger. A mutual inclination arose
between Gustave and you, and a marriage seemed the natural consequence.
Under these circumstances I apprized Monsieur Denecker, during his last
visit, of the deplorable condition of my affairs; but no sooner did I
make the disclosure than he peremptorily refused his consent to the
union. As if this terrible blow, which withered all my hopes, had not
been sufficient to overwhelm me, I learned, almost at the same time,
that the friend who loaned me four thousand francs, with the right to
renew my obligation to him every year, had died in Germany, and that his
heirs demanded the payment of the debt! I ran all over town, rapped at
every friendly door, ransacked heaven and earth in my despair, to escape
this last ignominy; but all my efforts were fruitless. To-morrow,
perhaps, a placard will be stuck on the door of Grinselhof, announcing
the sale not only of our estate but also of our furniture and of every
trifling object that memory and association have rendered dear to us.
Honor requires that we shall surrender, to public sale, every thing of
the least value to pay our debts. If fate were kind enough to allow us
to satisfy every creditor it would be a great consolation, my child, in
our misery. Does not this fatal history break your heart?"
"Is that all which makes you despond, father? Have you no other grief?
Does your heart conceal no other secret from me?" asked Lenora.
"None, my child. You know every thing."
"I can very well understand," replied Lenora, gravely, "that others
would consider a blow like this as a frightful misfortune; but how can
it affect us? You even appear calm. Why, father, do you, like me, appear
indifferent to the inexorable decree of fate?"
"Because you have inspired me with courage and confidence, Lenora;
because your love is restored to me fully after a long constraint;
because you let me hope that you will not be unhappy. I know what you
want to say, noble child, whom God has given me as a shield against
every ill! Well, I will encounter ruin without bowing my head, and
submit with resignation to the hand of God! Alas!" continued he, sadly,
"who can tell what sufferings are yet in store for us? We may be forced
to wander about the world,--to seek an asylum far from those we know and
love,--to earn our daily bread by the labor of our hands! Oh, Lenora,
you know not how bitter is the bread of misery,--of poverty!"
The maiden shuddered as she saw the cloud falling once more like a
curtain over her father's face. She grasped his hand tenderly, and,
fixing her gaze intently on his, said, in beseeching tones,--
"Oh, father! let not the happy smile that just now lighted your features
depart from them again! Believe me, we shall still be happy. Fancy
yourself in the position that awaits us: and what do you see in it so
frightful? I have skill to do all that woman can do; and then your
instructions have made me able to instruct others in the arts and
sciences you have taught me. I shall be strong and active enough for
both of us, and God will bless my labor. Behold us, father, peacefully
at home, with tranquil hearts and always together in our neat apartment:
we will love one another, set misfortune at defiance, and live together
in the heaven that our common sacrifice has made! Oh, it seems to me,
father, that the true happiness of our lives is only beginning! How can
you still give yourself up to despair when pleasure is in store for
us,--a pleasure such as few upon earth are permitted to enjoy?"
Monsieur De Vlierbeck looked at his daughter with rapture. Those
enthusiastic but gentle tones had so touched his heart, that noble
courage had inspired him with so much admiration, that tears of joy
filled his eyes. With one hand he drew Lenora to his bosom, and, placing
the other on her forehead, he looked to heaven with religious fervor. A
silent prayer, a blessing on his child, an outpouring of thankfulness,
arose from his heart, like the sacred flame from an altar, toward the
throne of Him who had bestowed that angelic child!