But when Clara, uttering her wild cry for protection,
and rushing forth from the tent, sank almost unconsciously
in his embrace, a thrill of inexplicable joy ran through
each awakened fibre of his frame. Bending eagerly forward,
he had extended his arms to receive her; and when he felt
her light and graceful form pressing upon his own as its
last refuge--when he felt her heart beating against
his--when he saw her head drooping on his shoulder, in
the wild recklessness of despair,--even amid that scene
of desolation and grief he could not help enfolding her
in tumultuous ecstasy to his breast. Every horrible danger
was for an instant forgotten in the soothing consciousness
that he at length encircled the form of her, whom in many
an hour of solitude he had thus pictured, although under
far different circumstances, reposing confidingly on him.
There was delight mingled with agony in his sensation of
the wild throb of her bosom against his own; and even
while his soul fainted within him, as he reflected on
the fate that awaited her, he felt as if he could himself
now die more happily.
Momentary, however, was the duration of this scene.
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