Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 1).djvu/282

 each other. Their thanksgivings were deep and silent; the offerings of their gentle spirits, burning brightest and purest on the secret altars of their hearts; and their renovated and more earthly feelings exhibiting themselves in long and fervent, though speechless caresses. As Alice arose from her knees, where she had sunken, by the side of Cora, she threw herself on the bosom of her sister, and sobbed aloud the name of their aged father, while her soft, dove-like eyes, sparkled with the rays of revived hope, the intelligence with which they beamed partaking more of the ethereal than of any expression which might belong to human infirmity.

"We are saved! we are saved!" she murmured, "to return to the arms of our dear, dear father, and his heart will not be broken with grief! And you too, Cora, my sister; my more than sister, my mother; you too are spared! and Duncan," she added, looking round upon the youth with a smile of ineffable purity and innocence, "even our own brave and noble Duncan has escaped without a hurt!"