The living
have no part in me; I yearn towards the spirits who wander in the halls
of the dead.'
For a few minutes more she continued to fix her tearless eyes on the
helmet-crest. But soon the influence of the evil spirit revived in all
its strength; she raised her head suddenly, remained for an instant
absorbed in deep thought, then began to retrace her steps rapidly in the
direction by which she had come.
Sometimes she whispered softly, 'I must be doing ere the time fail me:
my face must be hidden and my garments changed. Yonder, among the
houses, I must search, and search quickly!' Sometimes she reiterated
her denunciations of vengeance, her ejaculations of triumph in her
frantic project. At the recapitulation of these the remembrance of
Antonina was aroused; and then a bloodthirsty superstition darkened her
thoughts, and threw a vague and dreamy character over her speech.
When she spoke now, it was to murmur to herself that the victim who had
twice escaped her might yet be alive; that the supernatural influences
which had often guided the old Goths, on the day of retribution, might
still guide her; might still direct the stroke of her destroying
weapon--the last stroke ere she was discovered and slain--straight to
the girl's heart.
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