'And I see before me in your face,' he
added, after a momentary pause, 'the havoc which that ill-omened banquet
has worked. My friend, be advised!--abandon for ever the turmoil of
your Roman palace, and breathe in tranquillity the air of a country
home. The strength you once had is gone never to return--if you would
yet live, husband what is still left.'
'Hear me,' pursued Vetranio, in low, gloomy tones. 'I stood alone in my
doomed palace; the friends whom I had tempted to their destruction lay
lifeless around me; the torch was in my hand that was to light our
funeral pile, to set us free from the loathsome world! I approached
triumphantly to kindle the annihilating flames, when she stood before
me--she, whom I had sought as lost and mourned as dead! A strong hand
seemed to wrench the torch from me; it dropped to the ground! She
departed again; but I was powerless to take it up; her look was still
before me; her face, her figure, she herself, appeared ever watching
between the torch and me!'
'Lower!--speak lower!' interrupted the physician, looking on the
senator's agitated features with unconcealed astonishment and pity.
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