Page:Matteo Bandello - twelve stories (IA cu31924102029083).pdf/255

 that Romeo placed in you? Back, I say!" Then, as she struggled to free herself from his grasp, her eyes opened, and she found that he who embraced her was Romeo. Although he wore a German dress, she knew him well, and exclaimed: "Oh! my dear heart, is it you? Where is Fra Lorenzo? Why do you not bring me out of this tomb? Let us go away, for God's sake!"

At the sight of her eyes and the sound of her voice, Romeo knew of a certainty that Giulietta was not dead but verily alive, and he felt at once tremendous gladness and measureless, unspeakable grief. Straining her to his bosom, he cried, "Oh life of my life, and dearest heart of mine, what man has ever felt a joy like this which now possesses me? For I firmly believed you to be dead, but behold! I clasp you alive and safe in my arms! Yet what grief may match my grief? What torturing pain can vie with that which fills my heart, as I feel myself reach the end of all my dolorous days, and as life slips from me now, when most I need it? For at the most I cannot live more than half-an-hour! What mortal ever felt at one and the same moment such rapturous joy and such infinite