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pair, forgetting what we heard in the absorbing sight; till, the last chord
struck, the peal died away in lessening reverberations. The mighty voice,
inorganic we might call it, for we could in no way associate it with
mechanism of pipe or key, stilled its sonorous tone, and the girl, turning
to lend her assistance to her aged companion, at length perceived us.
It was her father; and she, since childhood, had been the guide of his
darkened steps. They were Germans from Saxony, and, emigrating thither but
a few years before, had formed new ties with the surrounding villagers.
About the time that the pestilence had broken out, a young German student
had joined them. Their simple history was easily divined. He, a noble,
loved the fair daughter of the poor musician, and followed them in their
flight from the persecutions of his friends; but soon the mighty leveller
came with unblunted scythe to mow, together with the grass, the tall
flowers of the field. The youth was an early victim. She preserved herself
for her father's sake. His blindness permitted her to continue a delusion,
at first the child of accident--and now solitary beings, sole survivors
in the land, he remained unacquainted with the change, nor was aware that
when he listened to his child's music, the mute mountains, senseless lake,
and unconscious trees, were, himself excepted, her sole auditors.
The very day that we arrived she had been attacked by symptomatic illness.
She was paralyzed with horror at the idea of leaving her aged, sightless
father alone on the empty earth; but she had not courage to disclose the
truth, and the very excess of her desperation animated her to surpassing
exertions. At the accustomed vesper hour, she led him to the chapel; and,
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