It was the road taken by his guilty emissaries; and,
whether on the look-out for signals or for their return, he repeated his
visits until the blue mists were gathering on the horizon, and
day--another day!--had passed into the bosom of eternity. It was an hour
of holiness and peace, but heavy and disturbed was the current of his
thoughts. He sat near a projecting angle of the turret, his head bent
over the parapet. A female voice was heard beneath, chanting
monotonously a low and melancholy psalm. Soon the following words were
distinguished:--
"Dark as the bounding waters
When storm clouds o'er them roll,
The face of Zion's daughters
Reveals the troubled soul."
Hildebrand drew his breath, as if labouring under some violent emotion.
His whole frame was agitated. His lip grew pale as she went on with a
voice of exultation--
"But joy is sown in sadness,
And hope with anxious fears;
Yon clouds shall break in gladness.
And doubts dissolve in tears."
Fiends increase their torments at the sight of heaven! Hildebrand threw
back his cloak,--with one clenched hand he struck his forehead, and with
a loud groan he rushed from the spot.
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