One moment of complying guilt may shut upon thee the door of
enjoyment and happiness for ever."
Such was the sorrow, and such were the consolations of Edwin. But far
different was the situation, and far other scenes were prepared for his
faithful shepherdess. For some time after she had been seized by
Roderic, she had remained unconscious and supine. The terrors that had
preceded the fatal capture, had overpowered her delicate frame, and sunk
her into an alarming and obstinate fit of insensibility. They had now
almost reached the palace of the magician, when she discovered the first
symptoms of returning life. The colour gradually remounted into her
bloodless cheeks; her hands were raised with a feeble and involuntary
motion, and at length she lifted up her head, and opened her languid,
unobserving eyes. "Edwin," she cried, "my friend, my companion, where
art thou? Where have we been? Oh, it is a long and tedious evening!"
Saying this, she looked upon the objects around her. The sky was now
become clear and smiling; the lowring clouds were dissipated, and the
blue expanse was stretched without limits over their head. The sources
of her former terror were indeed removed, but the objects that presented
themselves were equally alarming.
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