He placed his
ear close to her lips for an instant, and then resumed his place, not
stirring from it again. The slow current of his blood seemed to have
come to a pause--he was waiting as a man waits with his head on the
block ere the axe descends--as a mother waits to hear that the breath of
life has entered her new-born child.
The sun rose bright in a cloudless sky. As the fresh, sharp air of the
early dawn warmed under its spreading rays, the women entered the
apartment again, and partly drew aside the curtain and shutter from the
window. The beams of the new light fell fair and glorifying on the
girl's face; the faint, calm breezed ruffled the lighter locks of her
hair. Once this would have awakened her; but it did not disturb her
now.
Soon after the voice of the child who sojourned with the women in the
house was heard beneath, in the hall, through the half-opened door of
the room. The little creature was slowly ascending the stairs, singing
her faltering morning song to herself. She was preceded on her approach
by a tame dove, bought at the provision market outside the walls, but
preserved for the child as a pet and plaything by its mother.
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