[Illustration]
as represented by Le Brun. The violence of this passion alters all the
parts of the face; the eyebrows rise in the middle; its muscles are
marked, swelled, pressed one against the other, and sunk towards the
nose, which draws up as well as the nostrils; the eyes are very open;
the upper eyelid is hid under the eyebrow; the white of the eye is
encompassed with red; the eyeball fixes towards the lower part of the
eye; the lower part of the eyelid swells, and becomes livid; the muscles
of the nose and cheeks swell, and these last terminate in a point
towards the sides of the nostrils; the mouth is very open, and its
corners very apparent; the muscles and veins of the neck are
stretched; the hair stands an end; the colour of the face, that is, the
end of the nose, the lips, the ears, and round the eyes, is pale and
livid. Such was the face of honest Nicholas. He fell into a chair, and
let drop the scroll.
'Heavens! what ails my poor Nicholas?' cried Gertrude; 'speak, speak to
me, Nicholas.'--'Let us to our cottage, Gertrude,' replied Nicholas,
'let us to our cottage!'--'What ails you, my dear Nicholas?' said
Gertrude, feeling his hand. 'Oh dear, how cold!'--'Read, read!' said
Nicholas.
"Hathbrand took up the scroll, and read--'_Know, thou who longest after
riches, that the title to these estates is murder_; the infant heir to
these demesnes was on Christmas night, now fourteen years since, left to
perish in the forest of Dean.'
'What is that?' cried Nicholas; 'read it again; as I live, the very
night I found our poor Henry.'--'The very night indeed,' repeated
Gertrude.--'Are you sure of this?' interrupted Hathbrand.--'Most
certain, sir,' replied Nicholas. 'I remember the night very well; it was
bitter cold. Oh dear! oh dear! this is all Providence! this is all
Providence!'
"Nicholas embraced Henry: Gertrude embraced him also.
"Henry wept; he understood all that was said; he took the hand of
Nicholas--'Thou hast fed me,' said he, 'out of thy scanty pittance; thou
must not leave me, Nicholas. I have no friend that I know of, but my
dear Nicholas.'
"Nicholas consented to remain in a cottage near the castle, but refused
to be rich. Gertrude had no longer any desire to be rich.
"Hathbrand and the servants were delighted to find their young master so
noble and gallant a youth, and immediately did him homage.
"As they were speaking of these surprising events, father Benedict
entered; he brought with him Hugo, a wretch whom the Baron, in his
confessions, had accused of being his accomplice, and who had left the
child to perish in the woods; he was strongly guarded, but denied the
charge; he bid defiance to the power of his accusers, and insisted that
the Baron had died in a state of insanity.
"Surely here are the features of this bravo, full of defiance and
resentment; is it not the face of