Pagina 208 de 788

"Thus fate is wont to end all in this world by the sound of a

bell. The calculations of mighty minds, the plans of imagination,

the sports of innocence, the joys of friendship, the outpourings

of feeling hearts! when the bronze roars from afar all is

confused, shattered, perturbed-and vanishes!"

Then, turning a feeling glance on Telimena, he added, "What

remains?" and she said to him, "Remembrance"; and, desiring

somewhat to relieve the Count's sadness, she gave him a

forget-me-not that she had plucked. The Count kissed it and

pinned it on his bosom. Thaddeus on the other side separated the

branches of a shrub, seeing that through the greenery something

white was stealing towards him. This was a little hand white as a

lily; he seized it, kissed it, and silently buried his lips in it

as a bee in the cup of a lily. On his lips he felt something

cold; he found a key and a bit of white paper curled up in the

hole of it; this was a little note. He seized it and hid it in

his pocket; he did not know what the key meant, but that little

white note would explain.