صفحة 351 من 483

I looked on the heavens, which were covered by clouds that flew

before the wind, only to be replaced by others; I looked upon the

sea; it was to be my grave. "Fiend," I exclaimed, "your task is

already fulfilled!" I thought of Elizabeth, of my father, and of

Clerval-all left behind, on whom the monster might satisfy his

sanguinary and merciless passions. This idea plunged me into a

reverie so despairing and frightful that even now, when the scene

is on the point of closing before me for ever, I shudder to

reflect on it.

Some hours passed thus; but by degrees, as the sun declined

towards the horizon, the wind died away into a gentle breeze and

the sea became free from breakers. But these gave place to a

heavy swell; I felt sick and hardly able to hold the rudder, when

suddenly I saw a line of high land towards the south.