His voice acquired a quicker tone, and his features presented a sudden
energy and earnestness of expression, as if some new project had flashed
across his mind, when, after an interval, he continued thus:--
'But though my child shall be bereaved of me, though I shall die in the
hour when I most longed to live for her, I must not leave her helpless;
I will send her among my congregation who have deserted me, but who will
repent when they hear that I am dead, and will receive Antonina among
them for my sake! Listen to this--listen, listen! You must tell them
to remember all that I once revealed to them of my brother, from whom I
parted in my boyhood--my brother, whom I have never seen since. He may
yet be alive, he may be found--they must search for him; for to you he
would be father to the fatherless, and guardian to the unguarded--he may
now be in Rome, he may be rich and powerful--he may have food to spare,
and shelter that is good against all enemies and strangers! Attend,
child, to my words: in these latter days I have thought of him much; I
have seen him in dreams as I saw him for the last time in my father's
house; he was happier and more beloved than I was, and in envy and
hatred I quitted my parents and parted from him.
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