'This is our last meeting for years--it may be our last meeting for
life,' he said; 'I linger at the outset of my journey, but to behold you
as guardian of the one spot of ground that is most precious to you on
earth--as mistress, indeed, of the little that I give you here!' He
paused a moment and pointed to the grave, then continued: 'All the
atonement that I owe to you, you can never know--I can never tell!--
think only that I bear away with me a companion in the solitude to which
I go in the remembrance of you. Be calm, good, happy still, for my
sake, and while you forgive the senator of former days, forget not the
friend who now parts from you in some sickness and sorrow, but also in
much patience and hope! Farewell!'
His hand trembled as he held it out; a flush overspread the girl's cheek
while she murmured a few inarticulate words of gratitude, and, bending
over it, pressed it to her lips. Vetranio's heart beat quick; the
action revived an emotion that he dared not cherish; but he looked at
the wan, downcast face before him, at the grave that rose mournful by
his side, and quelled it again.
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