But even at that previous moment both
felt a sense of insecurity, as if the exquisite pleasure of so pure a
happiness were too intense to last. Maso looked upon this scene with cold
displeasure. His averted face denoting a stronger feeling than
disappointment, though the power of natural sympathy was so strong as to
draw evidences of its force from the eyes of all the others present.
"Bless thee, bless thee, my child, my dearly beloved son!" murmured the
Doge, lending himself to the improbable tale of Balthazar for a delicious
instant, and kissing the cheeks of Sigismund as one would embrace a
smiling infant; "may the God of heaven and earth, his only Son, and the
holy Virgin undefiled, unite to bless thee, here and hereafter, be thou
whom thou mayest! I owe thee one precious instant of happiness, such as I
have never tasted before. To find a child would not be enough to give it
birth; but to believe thee to be that son touches on the joys of
paradise!"
Sigismund fervently kissed the hand that had rested affectionately on his
head during this diction; then, feeling the necessity of having some
guarantee for the existence of emotions so sweet, he arose and made a warm
and strong appeal to him who had so long passed for his father to be more
explicit, and to justify his new-born hopes by some evidence better than;
his simple asseveration; for solemnly as the latter had been made, and
profound as he knew to be the reverence for truth which the despised
headsman not only entertained himself but inculcated in all in whom he had
any interest, the revelation he had just made seemed too improbable to
resist the doubts of one who knew his happiness to be the fruit or the
forfeiture of its veracity.
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