A peal of
thunder, deafening and tremendous, followed it. All now was vacancy. Not
a trace of those costly scenes and that magnificent architecture
remained. The heaven over-canopied the head of Edwin. The clouds were
dissipated. The light of innumerable stars gave grandeur to the scene.
And the silver moon communicated a milder lustre, and created a softer
shade. Roderic and his train, full of pusillanimity and consternation,
had fled from the direful scene, and vanished like shadows at the rising
of the sun.
No mortal, but our lovers, had ever entered the enchanted mansion
without having their characters disgraced, and their hearts thronged
with all those hateful and dissolute passions, which distinguished the
band of Roderic. No mortal was there, but our lovers, of the numerous
inhabitants of this bad edifice, who had not shrunk from the earthquake
and the solemnities that accompanied its sub-version. Edwin and Imogen
were alone. The shepherdess had listened to all the horrors of the scene
with a gloomy kind of satisfaction. "What new wonders," cried she, "are
now to be disclosed? What purpose are they intended to answer! The
amendment, or the destruction of my betrayer? But it is well. Though the
elements mix in inextricable confusion, though the earth be destroyed,
yet has innocence no cause to fear.
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