I
tried to start up and shake off this strange deadness from my body, but
was powerless to move a muscle. What was the meaning of this condition?
for I had absolutely no pain, no discomfort even; for the sensation of
intense cold had almost ceased, and my mind was active and clear, and I
could hear and see, and yet was as powerless as if I had been buried in
a marble coffin a thousand fathoms deep in earth.
Suddenly I remembered the draught from the bottle, and a terrible doubt
shot through my heart. Alas! had I mistaken the meaning of those strange
words I had read?--was _death_ the cure which that mysterious
vessel promised to those who drank of its contents? "When life becomes a
burden, it is good to lay it down"; now too late the words of the
father, when reproving me after my fever, came back to my mind in all
their awful significance.
All at once I heard a voice calling my name, and in a moment the tempest
in me was stilled. Yes, it was my darling's voice--she was coming to
me--she would save me in this dire extremity.
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