near him. Her dark eyes, fearfully impressed with the restless glare of

madness, were fixed on him; she held her infant, not yet a year old, in her

arms; and care of it alone could distract her attention from the words to

which she eagerly listened. After the sermon was over, the congregation

dispersed; all quitted the chapel except she whom I sought; her babe had

fallen asleep; so she placed it on a cushion, and sat on the floor beside,

watching its tranquil slumber.

I presented myself to her; for a moment natural feeling produced a

sentiment of gladness, which disappeared again, when with ardent and

affectionate exhortation I besought her to accompany me in flight from this

den of superstition and misery. In a moment she relapsed into the delirium

of fanaticism, and, but that her gentle nature forbade, would have loaded

me with execrations. She conjured me, she commanded me to leave her--

"Beware, O beware," she cried, "fly while yet your escape is practicable.

Now you are safe; but strange sounds and inspirations come on me at times,

and if the Eternal should in awful whisper reveal to me his will, that to

save my child you must be sacrificed, I would call in the satellites of him

you call the tyrant; they would tear you limb from limb; nor would I hallow

the death of him whom Idris loved, by a single tear."

She spoke hurriedly, with tuneless voice, and wild look; her child awoke,

and, frightened, began to cry; each sob went to the ill-fated mother's

heart, and she mingled the epithets of endearment she addressed to her

infant, with angry commands that I should leave her. Had I had the means, I

would have risked all, have torn her by force from the murderer's den, and

511

The Last Man