The Wandering Jew, Book I.

and pensive, contemplating the leaves yellowed by time. Dagobert, also plunged in a reverie, th

veral minutes. Taking the leaves from the hand of Blanche, he folded th

ure of greeting him, and remember always the name of the gallant youth, to whom you

ll never forget

return," added Blanche, "we will ask him

to visit your poor mother in Siberia, he had seen the general a month after the events of which you have read, and at a moment when

will this medal b

words engraved upon it?" added R

he 13th of February, 1832, we must be

are we to

able to tell me. All I know is, that this medal came to her from her parents,

id our fat

, was a dressing-case of your mother's, in which was contained this medal. Since that time the general had

then, of great i

erto been miserable. I will entreat of the governor of Siberia permission to go to France with my daughters; it will perhaps be thought I have been sufficiently punished, by fifteen years of exile, and the confiscation of my property. Should they refuse, I will remain here; but they will at

e were one

would be too late. She also gave me a thick letter, to put into the pos

k we shall be at

if we only travel our five leagues a day, and that without accident, we shall scarcely r

ndia, and condemned to

en shall w

e shall w

t to learn. When the traveller quitted him, the gene

hy is

e news must reach India, and your father will certainly come to meet you at Paris, be

w we may hope to see him

name of this trav

or all his kindness and devotion to the general, herself, and the children; but he pressed her hands in his, and said to her

that, Da

did the trav

r in which he pronounced those words str

r!" repeated Ros

are those words

was the tra

eemed to love my husband and my children more-and yet, to judge by the expression of his countenance, one would think that this stranger had never either smiled or wept!' She and I watched him from the door

s it, Da

ur house way, always damp, because of

es

teps remained in the clay, and I saw that he h

he form o

finger seven times on the coverlet of the be

it forms

d it mean,

confounded cross left behind him struck me as a bad omen, for h

death of

heard the gallop of a horse. It was a courier from the governor general of Siberia. He brought us orders to change our residence; within three days we were to join o

hey thus t

the medal and papers to be of use-since, having set out almost immediately, we shall hardly arrive in time at Paris. 'If they had some interest to prevent me and my children from going to France,' said

cted sorrow that was the ca

your large bunches of wild-flowers for your mother, she was already in the last agony, and hardly to be recognized. The cholera had broken out in the village, and that evening five persons died of it. Your mother had only time to hang the medal about your neck, my dear li

ce; he covered his eyes with his hand,

al. Notwithstanding the danger, it was impossible to tear you from your mother's bedside; you remained with her to the last, you closed her eyes, yo

he soldier start from his seat. He grew pale, and cried: "It is Jovial! my horse! What are

ass through the broken panes, unfasten the catch of the window, push it violently open, and throw down the lamp placed on