Chapter X
THE NEXT MORNING. THE FATE OF NYDIA.
AND meekly, softly, beautifully, dawned at last the light over the trembling
deep!--the winds were sinking into rest--the foam died from the glowing
azure of that delicious sea. Around the east, thin mists caught gradually
the rosy hues that heralded the morning; Light was about to resume her
reign. Yet, still, dark and massive in the distance, lay the broken
fragments of the destroying cloud, from which red streaks, burning dimlier
and more dim, betrayed the yet rolling fires of the mountain of the
'Scorched Fields'. The white walls and gleaming columns that had adorned
the lovely coasts were no more. Sullen and dull were the shores so lately
crested by the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The darlings of the deep
were snatched from her embrace! Century after century shall the mighty
Mother stretch forth her azure arms, and know them not--moaning round the
sepulchres of the Lost!
There was no shout from the mariners at the dawning light--it had come too
gradually, and they were too wearied for such sudden bursts of joy--but
there was a low, deep murmur of thankfulness amidst those watchers of the
long night. They looked at each other and smiled--they took heart--they
felt once more that there was a world around, and a God above them! And in
the feeling that the worst was passed, the overwearied ones turned round,
and fell placidly to sleep. In the growing light of the skies there came the
silence which night had wanted: and the bark drifted calmly onward to its
port. A few other vessels, bearing similar fugitives, might be seen in the
expanse, apparently motionless, yet gliding also on. There was a sense of
security, of companionship, and of hope, in the sight of their slender masts
and white sails. What beloved friends, lost and missed in the gloom, might
they not bear to safety and to shelter!
In the silence of the general sleep, Nydia rose gently. She bent over the
face of Glaucus--she inhaled the deep breath of his heavy slumber--timidly
and sadly she kissed his brow--his lips; she felt for his hand--it was
locked in that of Ione; she sighed deeply, and her face darkened. Again she
kissed his brow, and with her hair wiped from it the damps of night. 'May
the gods bless you, Athenian!' she murmured: 'may you be happy with your
beloved one!--may you sometimes remember Nydia! Alas! she is of no further
use on earth!'
With these words she turned away. Slowly she crept along by the fori, or
platforms, to the farther side of the vessel, and, pausing, bent low over
the deep; the cool spray dashed upward on her feverish brow. 'It is the
kiss of death,' she said 'it is welcome.' The balmy air played through her
waving tresses--she put them from her face, and raised those eyes--so
tender, though so lightless--to the sky, whose soft face she had never seen!
'No, no!' she said, half aloud, and in a musing and thoughtful tone, 'I
cannot endure it; this jealous, exacting love--it shatters my whole soul in
madness! I might harm him again--wretch that I was! I have saved
him--twice saved him--happy, happy thought: why not die happy?--it is the
last glad thought I can ever know. Oh! sacred Sea! I hear thy voice
invitingly--it hath a freshening and joyous call. They say that in thy
embrace is dishonour--that thy victims cross not the fatal Styx--be it
so!--I would not meet him in the Shades, for I should meet him still with
her! Rest--rest--rest! there is no other Elysium for a heart like mine!'
A sailor, half dozing on the deck, heard a slight splash on the waters.
Drowsily he looked up, and behind, as the vessel merrily bounded on, he
fancied he saw something white above the waves; but it vanished in an
instant. He turned round again, and dreamed of his home and children.
When the lovers awoke, their first thought was of each other--their next of
Nydia! She was not to be found--none had seen her since the night. Every
crevice of the vessel was searched--there was no trace of her. Mysterious
from first to last, the blind Thessalian had vanished for ever from the
living world! They guessed her fate in silence: and Glaucus and Ione, while
they drew nearer to each other (feeling each other the world itself), forgot
their deliverance, and wept as for a departed sister.
