Here, pallid as death, and woe-stricken, he gave one sad, one last, agonizing look upon that face that he had so well beloved--the face of one with whom to part were worse than death itself. Then sad and sorrowful, in a dejected tone, he said:--"Oh, Adelaide, we have loved as others yet have never loved; now heart-broken and sorrow-stricken I here must bid a sad and solemn farewell. Yet, oh, must we part?--Yes, we _must_ part--oh, and for _ever_! Never, never again in this wide world to meet!--again, never! Oh, farewell--one sad, one sorrowful farewell, and hence I go.... Farewell! forgive and forget, if thou canst forget (to forgive were impossible) that such a wretched outcast exists as David Bruce!"
Here he sobbed like a child, while he slowly and silently withdrew, gently closing after him the chamber door. But suddenly he returned, and approaching the bed-side, he thus addressed Adelaide: "It were best that the mournful tale which now I have disclosed to thee, as well too as thine own, should be kept inviolably secret, and remain for ever unknown. Divulge not then thine own criminal weakness; neither expose the enormity of my guilt. Oh, how often and often have I wished, have I longed for, aye, and have courted death;--yea often too have I keenly sought him in flood and field. But in vain. It almost seemed as if I had borne a charmed life. Often I
"Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone; And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open The breast of heaven, I did present myself Even in the aim and very flash of it,"
in anxious hope that it might strike a guilty fratricide dead!---- Now, now, you must say, and swear too, upon this blood-stained poniard!--swear never--no, never! to reveal what this sad and eventful night has developed; save it be upon your death-bed alone that you may divulge it. Come, I demand thy oath; I must have thy solemn oath--thy sanctified oath of secrecy! But I will not place that horrid instrument to thy lips, to swear by! No, no! I could not do it--I would not. Oh, no--if even past joys and hopes again were to return--no! But there--there, place thy hand upon that horrible instrument of my deep damnation! Swear upon it!--solemnly swear upon that blood-besprent dagger. Swear!--I charge thee, swear!---- Oh, yet weep not, my poor Adelaide! Oh, no!--weep not thus, my Adelaide, or I forego my purpose; and soon, then, this dagger shall be plunged into mine own guilty bosom!---- Thou hast heard me---- my love! Oh, yes, yes, my love; for still, oh, still art thou dear to me--dearer than life--ay, or even the blessed hopes of *****!--although we never may meet again!---- There, I beseech thee! yet there place thy hand upon that instrument of my torture--of my unspeakable woe--and of my deep and deadly crime.--Swear!