"There, it is gone; you are saved from death--saved from crime." And
with that, the danger was over, she trembled for the first time, and
fell to sobbing hysterically.
He threw himself at her knees, and embraced them again and again, and
begged her forgiveness in a transport of remorse and self-reproach.
She looked down with tender pity on him, and heard his cries of
penitence and shame.
"Rise, Camille, and go home with me," said she faintly.
"Yes, Josephine."
They went slowly and in silence. Camille was too ashamed and penitent
to speak; too full of terror too at the abyss of crime from which he
had been saved. The ancients feigned that a virgin could subdue a lion;
perhaps they meant that a pure gentle nature can subdue a nature fierce
but generous. Lion-like Camille walked by Josephine's side with his eyes
bent on the ground, the picture of humility and penitence.
"This is the last walk you and I shall take together," said Josephine
solemnly.
"I know it," said he humbly. "I have forfeited all right to be by your
side."
"My poor, lost love," sighed Josephine, "will you never understand
me? You never stood higher in my esteem than at this moment.
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