(_She takes up the letter_.)
(_Reading_.) "Possible"--"If it were possible"--he does not read that
word as I did when I kept this promise--_Possible_? He does not know the
meaning that love gives that word--"If I had known an hour sooner,"
--Ay, ay, an hour sooner!--"Trust me, dear Helen, they will not harm
you." _Trust me_, trust me. Won't I?
_Jan_. She is beckoning them, as I live!
_Helen_. Bring me that hat and mantle, Netty. I must go with these
savages.
_Jan_. _Go_ with them!
_Helen_. There is no help for it.
_Jan_. With these wild creatures,--with these painted devils?--No--Like
nothing human they look, I am sure. Ah see, see them in their feathers
and blankets, and that long wild hair. See the knives and the tomahawks
in their girdles! Holy Mary! Here's one within the court!
_Helen_. Yes, there he stands--there's life in it now.--There they
stand--the chesnut boughs wave over them--this is the filling up of
life. They _are_ waiting for me. 'Tis no dream.
_Jan_. Dare you go with them? They will murder you.
_Helen_. If they were but human, I could move them--and yet it is the
human in them that is so dreadful.
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