The Marble Faun Volume 1 - Page 53/130

"You must leave me," said Miriam to Donatello more imperatively than

before; "have I not said it? Go; and look not behind you."

"Miriam," whispered Donatello, grasping her hand forcibly, "who is it

that stands in the shadow yonder, beckoning you to follow him?"

"Hush; leave me!" repeated Miriam. "Your hour is past; his hour has

come."

Donatello still gazed in the direction which he had indicated, and

the expression of his face was fearfully changed, being so disordered,

perhaps with terror,--at all events with anger and invincible

repugnance,--that Miriam hardly knew him. His lips were drawn apart so

as to disclose his set teeth, thus giving him a look of animal rage,

which we seldom see except in persons of the simplest and rudest

natures. A shudder seemed to pass through his very bones.

"I hate him!" muttered he.

"Be satisfied; I hate him too!" said Miriam.

She had no thought of making this avowal, but was irresistibly drawn to

it by the sympathy of the dark emotion in her own breast with that so

strongly expressed by Donatello. Two drops of water or of blood do not

more naturally flow into each other than did her hatred into his.

"Shall I clutch him by the throat?" whispered Donatello, with a savage

scowl. "Bid me do so, and we are rid of him forever."

"In Heaven's name, no violence!" exclaimed Miriam, affrighted out of the

scornful control which she had hitherto held over her companion, by

the fierceness that he so suddenly developed. "O, have pity on

me, Donatello, if for nothing else, yet because in the midst of my

wretchedness I let myself be your playmate for this one wild

hour! Follow me no farther. Henceforth leave me to my doom. Dear

friend,--kind, simple, loving friend,--make me not more wretched by the

remembrance of having thrown fierce hates or loves into the wellspring

of your happy life!"

"Not follow you!" repeated Donatello, soothed from anger into sorrow,

less by the purport of what she said, than by the melancholy sweetness

of her voice,--"not follow you! What other path have I?"

"We will talk of it once again," said Miriam still soothingly;

"soon--to-morrow when you will; only leave me now."