Here, though lonely,
you will be secure; here you can await my return, when each succeeding
night gives me the opportunity of departing from the camp; and here I
will warn you beforehand, if the city is devoted to an assault. Though
solitary, you will not be abandoned--we shall not be parted one from the
other. Often and often I shall return to look on you, and to listen to
you, and to love you! You will be happier here, even in this lonely
place, than in the former home that you have lost through your father's
wrath!'
'Oh! I will willingly remain--I will joyfully await you!' cried the
girl, raising her beaming eyes to Hermanric's face. 'I will never speak
mournfully to you again; I will never remind you more of all that I have
suffered, and all that I have lost! How merciful you were to me, when I
first saw you in your tent--how doubly merciful you are to me here! I
am proud when I look on your stature, and your strength, and your heavy
weapons, and know that you are happy in remaining with me; that you will
succour my father; that you will return from your glittering encampments
to this farm-house, where I am left to await you! Already I have
forgotten all that has happened to me of woe; already I am more joyful
than ever I was in my life before! See, I am no longer weeping in
sorrow! If there are any tears still on my cheeks, they are the tears
of gladness that every one welcomes--tears to sing and rejoice in!'
She ceased abruptly, as if words failed to give expression to her new
delight.
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