Pagina 966 de 1118

It appeared to Don Roderick that the capuchin, after having

looked over the assembly, fixed his eyes upon him, with the same

expression as on the well-remembered interview in his castle,

and, at the same time, raised his arm, and held it suspended

above his head; making an effort to arrest the blow, a cry which

struggled in his throat escaped him, and he awoke. He opened his

eyes; the light of day, which was already advanced, pressed upon

his brain, and imparted as keen an anguish as the torch of the

preceding night. Looking around on his bed and his room, he

comprehended that it was a dream; the church, the crowd, the

friar, all had vanished; but not so the pain in his left side. He

was sensible of an agonising and rapid beating of his heart, a

buzzing in his ears, an internal heat which consumed him, and a

weight and weariness in his limbs greater than when he went to

bed.