OCR Text |
Show 316 ROEDUCK. CIIAPTER XXX. FREDERICK FAIRFAX. JULIA went to the prison. IIer step had lost tho elastic lightness of youth, health and happiness. Sho walked ·with the nervous celerity of painful excite· ment. The bloom had 6.cled frotn her che• ks. Abov~ their pallor, her eyes glearned \vith unnatural lustre. In her fluttering pulse, snfferiug ancl heart-sickness had extinguished the energy of hope and high resolve. Bu~ despair \Vas still kept at bay by the expectation of seeing her father, and relieving him by filial 1ninistrations. She found him in a sn1all room-a mere cell. It was gloomy, having only one window, a little grated opening. IIe•lay on the floor, with no bed, bnt some ·wisps of dirty, broken stnv;v. The close, corrupted air aln1ost stifled Julia as she entered. Tho cell contained several prisoners besides her father. They might ... h!lve been long there, for their faces had the dead whiteness and sullen indifference ·which come of long itnprisonment. rrhey let the Rpider \Veave his 'veb over their narro'v \Vindow \vithout raising a hand to brush it away. Colonel Fairf:tx \V!l.S look in o· round ;::, npon them, and, as Julia entered the door, she he:'tn~ hi1n fhintly utter the ·words "poor follows!" vVhen, by the dusky light, ad1nittod through di):ty panes, she saw hin1 lying on the floor, none bnt a daughtee 'vould have recognized hiR fonn ancl features. llis wound, his frightful jcntrney to the Federal capital, - ROEBUCK. 817 . imprisonn1ent, suffering, grief hacl conquered his n1nnly frame. IIis eyes were sunken; his checks 'ver.e holl.o ,v and haggn rd; his beard \vas Ion a- and ~ ,v}nto; Ius grey hair \vas 1nattod, his form was ema-ciated and distorted w·ith p3i n; his garments \vore soiled by the filth in ·which he lay. In all this squalicl wretchedness nothing could bo seen \vhich seemed properly to belong to that noble gentleman but the benignity of his countenance as he looked round upon his follow-prisoners. His daughter hastened to his side, and sobbing, ''my father, my father," she knelt down and kissed him again and again. Iler tears trickled in sho·\Vers upon his face. Laying her cheek to his, she 1vept in speechless agony. "Julia, my sweet child," he \vhispered, "do not give 'vay to despair. God is merciful. · We are in his hands." She could answer only with tears. She had cotne to con1fort hizn, but the first sight of hitn had dissolved her firmness. She recovered her voice only to cry out, '' 0 God! 0 God! can such goodness be doo1ned to such misery? my father, 1ny father!" Ilis eyes filled with tears, and, for a time, he could not speak. At length her paroxysm of uncontrollable grief 'vas past. She recalled to mind the duty ·which she had come -to discharge. She sat upon the floor, and wiped her eyes. But her lip still quivered, and she feared to make an effort to speak, lest her self-control should abandon her again. "Speak to- n1e, my daughter. Tell me of your mother. }fy beloved wife!" " Yes, papa ; she is with kind friends. Her great trouble is for you.'' "My 'vife, my wife, my wife!" "vVhen she knows that you are-are safe, she will be comforted.'' |