第 5 节
作者:尘小春      更新:2024-01-24 16:00      字数:2649
  Success! And now it is like the faintest rose…color。 The slightest
  flush of blood across her cheek would overcome it。 But she is so
  pale!〃
  He drew aside the window…curtain; and suffered the light of natural
  day to fall into the room; and rest upon her cheek。 At the same
  time; he heard a gross; hoarse chuckle; which he had long known as his
  servant Aminadab's expression of delight。
  〃Ah; clod! Ah; earthly mass!〃 cried Aylmer; laughing in a sort of
  frenzy。 〃You have served me well! Master and Spirit… Earth and Heaven…
  have both done their part in this! Laugh; thing of the senses! You
  have earned the right to laugh。〃
  These exclamations broke Georgiana's sleep。 She slowly unclosed her
  eyes; and gazed into the mirror; which her husband had arranged for
  that purpose。 A faint smile flitted over her lips; when she recognized
  how barely perceptible was now that Crimson Hand; which had once
  blazed forth with such disastrous brilliancy as to scare away all
  their happiness。 But then her eyes sought Aylmer's face; with a
  trouble and anxiety that he could by no means account for。
  〃My poor Aylmer!〃 murmured she。
  〃Poor? Nay; richest! Happiest! Most favored!〃 exclaimed he。 〃My
  peerless bride; it is successful! You are perfect!〃
  〃My poor Aylmer!〃 she repeated; with a more than human
  tenderness。 〃You have aimed loftily! you have done nobly! Do not
  repent; that; with so high and pure a feeling; you have rejected the
  best the earth could offer。 Aylmer… dearest Aylmer; I am dying!〃
  Alas; it was too true! The fatal Hand had grappled with the mystery
  of life; and was the bond by which an angelic spirit kept itself in
  union with a mortal frame。 As the last crimson tint of the birthmark…
  that sole token of human imperfection… faded from her cheek; the
  parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere;
  and her soul; lingering a moment near her husband; took its heavenward
  flight。 Then a hoarse; chuckling laugh was heard again! Thus ever does
  the gross Fatality of Earth exult in its invariable triumph over the
  immortal essence; which; in this dim sphere of half…development;
  demands the completeness of a higher state。 Yet; had Aylmer reached a
  profounder wisdom; he need not thus have flung away the happiness;
  which would have woven his mortal life of the self…same texture with
  the celestial。 The momentary circumstance was too strong for him; he
  failed to look beyond the shadowy scope of Time; and living once for
  all in Eternity; to find the perfect Future in the present。
  THE END
  。