How far does thy contract reach?"
"All interest I can claim. His part that created it I could not give,
not being mine to yield."
"Lost! lost! Thou hast, indeed, sold thyself to perdition! I'll purge
this earth of witchery;--I'll make their carcases my weapon's
sheath;--hence inglorious scabbard!" He flung away the sheath. Twining
her dark hair about his fingers--"Die!--impious, polluted wretch! This
blessed earth loathes thee,--the grave's holy sanctuary will cast thee
out! Yon glorious sun would smite thee should I refrain!"
He raised his sword--a gleam of triumph seemed to flash from her eye, as
though she were eager for the blow; but the descending weapon was
stayed, and by no timid hand.
Lord William turned, yet he saw not the cause of its restraint. The lady
alone seemed to be aware of some unseen intruder, and her eye darkened
with apprehension. Suddenly she sprang from the couch; a shriek from no
human agency escaped her, and the spirit seemed to have passed from its
abode.
Lord William threw himself on her pale and inanimate form.
"Farewell!" he cried: "I had thought thee honest!--Nay, lost spirit, I
must not say farewell!"
He gazed on his once-loved bride with a look of such unutterable
tenderness that the heart's deep gush burst from his eyes, and he wept
in that almost unendurable anguish.
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