Sporting in her father's vineyard, so fresh and beautiful and happy!
Her teeth were clenched; her eyes fixed on the ground; her form without
motion, and in a state of absolute insensibility. I hung over her in an
agony of recollection of all that she had been, and of anguish at what
I now beheld her. I darted round a look of horror at my companions, who
seemed like so many fiends exulting in the downfall of an angel, and I
felt a horror at myself for being their accomplice.
The captain, always suspicious, saw with his usual penetration what was
passing within me, and ordered me to go upon the ridge of woods to keep
a look-out upon the neighborhood and await the return of the shepherd.
I obeyed, of course, stifling the fury that raged within me, though I
felt for the moment that he was my most deadly foe.
On my way, however, a ray of reflection came across my mind. I
perceived that the captain was but following with strictness the
terrible laws to which we had sworn fidelity. That the passion by which
I had been blinded might with justice have been fatal to me but for his
forbearance; that he had penetrated my soul, and had taken precautions,
by sending me out of the way, to prevent my committing any excess in my
anger.
