Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/45

 agony of convulsions, a distorted mouth, and a ghastly stare—her ice-cold face sunk over mine, and her hands seized my arms with twitching violence. Terrified I rose, and could hardly get loose from her hold; I gently laid her on the sopha, when she uttered a loud groan, and instantly expired. I had lost the very power to call for help, but at last her woman entered the room.

No sooner did she see me in mute sorrow and despair at the feet of her beloved and now lifeless mistress, than a fresh scene of distress ensued, In such dreadful moments there is no distinction of birth or rank. The poor girl had lost a mother in her benefactress; a torrent of impetuous feelings made her fall half-senseless on the corpse; pouring out a thousand lamentations, and embracing with distracted tenderness its pallid cheeks and chilled limbs. Her attachment to Elmira had been invariable, no wonder therefore that her grief was boundless. Orphan-like she bemoaned a parent gone, and ultimately overpowered, by the weight of her doleful sensations, she, too,—sunk unconscious on the floor.