In spite of the stifling dullness which oppressed
her, her body seemed as light as air. At last,--
she knew not where,--she heard the roar of the
sea resounding in her ears, a genial warmth
thawed the numbness of her senses, and she
floated joyfully among the clouds--among
golden, sun-bathed clouds. When she opened
her eyes, she found herself lying in a comfortable
bed, and a young woman with a kind motherly
face was sitting at her side. It was all
like a dream, and she made no effort to account
for what appeared so strange and unaccountable.
What she afterward heard was that a fisher-
man had found her in a snow-drift on the strand,
and that he had carried her home to his cottage
and had given her over to the charge of his
wife. This was the second day since her arrival.
They knew who she was, but had kept the doors
locked and had told no one that she was there.
She heard the story of the good woman without
emotion; it seemed an intolerable effort to think.
But on the third day, when her child was born,
her mind was suddenly aroused from its lethargy,
and she calmly matured her plans; and for the
child's sake she resolved to live and to act.
That same evening there came a little boy with
a bundle for her. She opened it and found
therein the clothes she had left behind, and--
her brooches. She knew that it was her sister
who had sent them; then there was one who
still thought of her with affection. And yet her
first impulse was to send it all back, or to throw
it into the ocean; but she looked at her child and forbore.
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