But the moon came slowly up in all her gentle glory, and the starslooked out, and through the small compass of the grated window, asthrough the narrow crevice of one good deed in a murky life ofguilt, the face of Heaven shone bright and merciful. He raised hishead; gazed upward at the quiet sky, which seemed to smile upon theearth in sadness, as if the night, more thoughtful than the day,looked down in sorrow on the sufferings and evil deeds of men; andfelt its peace sink deep into his heart. He, a poor idiot, cagedin his narrow cell, was as much lifted up to God, while gazing onthe mild light, as the freest and most favoured man in all thespacious city; and in his ill-remembered prayer, and in thefragment of the childish hymn, with which he sung and croonedhimself asleep, there breathed as true a spirit as ever studiedhomily expressed, or old cathedral arches echoed.
As his mother crossed a yard on her way out, she saw, through agrated door which separated it from another court, her husband,walking round and round, with his hands folded on his breast, andhis head hung down. She asked the man who conducted her, if shemight speak a word with this prisoner. Yes, but she must be quickfor he was locking up for the night, and there was but a minute orso to spare. Saying this, he unlocked the door, and bade her goin.
It grated harshly as it turned upon its hinges, but he was deaf tothe noise, and still walked round and round the little court,without raising his head or changing his attitude in the least.
She spoke to him, but her voice was weak, and failed her. Atlength she put herself in his track, and when he came near,stretched out her hand and touched him.
He started backward, trembling from head to foot; but seeing who itwas, demanded why she came there. Before she could reply, he spokeagain.
"Am I to live or die? Do you murder too, or spare?"
"My son--our son," she answered, "is in this prison."
"What is that to me?" he cried, stamping impatiently on the stonepavement. "I know it. He can no more aid me than I can aid him.
If you are come to talk of him, begone!"
As he spoke he resumed his walk, and hurried round the court asbefore. When he came again to where she stood, he stopped, andsaid,"Am I to live or die? Do you repent?"
"Oh!--do YOU?" she answered. "Will you, while time remains? Donot believe that I could save you, if I dared."
"Say if you would," he answered with an oath, as he tried todisengage himself and pass on. "Say if you would."
"Listen to me for one moment," she returned; "for but a moment. Iam but newly risen from a sick-bed, from which I never hoped torise again. The best among us think, at such a time, of goodintentions half-performed and duties left undone. If I have ever,since that fatal night, omitted to pray for your repentance beforedeath--if I omitted, even then, anything which might tend to urge it on you when the horror of your crime was fresh--if, in our latermeeting, I yielded to the dread that was upon me, and forgot tofall upon my knees and solemnly adjure you, in the name of him yousent to his account with Heaven, to prepare for the retributionwhich must come, and which is stealing on you now--I humbly beforeyou, and in the agony of supplication in which you see me, beseechthat you will let me make atonement."
"What is the meaning of your canting words?" he answered roughly.
"Speak so that I may understand you."
"I will," she answered, "I desire to. Bear with me for a momentmore. The hand of Him who set His curse on murder, is heavy on usnow. You cannot doubt it. Our son, our innocent boy, on whom Hisanger fell before his birth, is in this place in peril of his life-broughthere by your guilt; yes, by that alone, as Heaven sees andknows, for he has been led astray in the darkness of his intellect,and that is the terrible consequence of your crime."
"If you come, woman-like, to load me with reproaches--" hemuttered, again endeavouring to break away.
"I do not. I have a different purpose. You must hear it. If not to-night, to-morrow; if not to-morrow, at another time. You MUSThear it. Husband, escape is hopeless--impossible."
"You tell me so, do you?" he said, raising his manacled hand, andshaking it. "You!"
"Yes," she said, with indescribable earnestness. "But why?"
"To make me easy in this jail. To make the time "twixt this anddeath, pass pleasantly. For my good--yes, for my good, ofcourse," he said, grinding his teeth, and smiling at her with alivid face.