Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/354

 you will tell me, whether you prefer the Penitent Sisters at Seville or some convent in France."

This she had not expected. So much generosity overwhelmed her. She threw herself from the sopha on the floor, and embraced my feet. The transition from the terrors of death to the certainty of life had been too sudden, and Adela could not rise again. I gently lifted her up, put her on the sopha, sprinkled her pallid face with water and rub bed her forehead. Perhaps my features expressed too much of emotion. She was aware of it and wanted to prostrate herself a second time before me; but I held her fast, "For God's sake!" cried she, "kill me not with excessive kindness, I have deserved death. Here is my bosom. Put an end to my hellish torments!"

She bared her breast. I turned away with scornful disdain, that I might not see it. "Be tranquil, Madam," answered I with composure, "and thank Providence that I did not surprise you after the consummation of the