Follow me, minion; and then
talk of pollution if thou canst!" And with a swift step Isabella led
the way to the chamber of Marie.
"Behold!" she said emphatically, as she pointed to the unhappy
sufferer, who, though restored to life, was still utterly unconscious
where she was or who surrounded her; her cheek and brow, white and
damp; her large eye lustreless and wandering; her lip and eyelid
quivering convulsively; her whole appearance proving too painfully
that reason had indeed, for the time, fled. The soul had been strong
till the dread words were said; but the re-action had been too much
for either frame or mind. "Catherine! thou hast seen her in her
beauty, the cherished, the beloved of all who knew her--seen her when
no loveliness could mate with hers. Thou seest now the wreck that
misery has made, though she has numbered but few more years than thou
hast! Detest, abhor, avoid her _faith_--for that we command thee; but
her sex, her sorrow, have a claim to sympathy and aid, which not even
her race can remove. Jewess though she be, if thou can look on her
thus, and still speak of pollution and danger, thou art not what we
deemed thee!"
Struck to the heart, alike by the marked display of a mistress she
idolized and the sympathy her better nature really felt for Marie,
Catherine sunk on her knees by the couch, and burst into tears.
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