rely gray,
his long, unshaven beard, and the wildness of the eyes which glanced
upon them as they opened the door and entered, caused the faint hope
which had so suddenly risen in Clotelle's heart, to sink, and she felt
that this man could claim no kindred with her. Certainly, he bore no
resemblance to the man whom she had called her father, and who had
fondly dandled her on his knee in those happy days of childhood.
"Help!" cried the poor man, as Jerome and his wife walked into the
room. His eyes glared, and shriek after shriek broke forth from his
parched and fevered lips.
"No, I did not kill my daughter!--I did not! she is not dead! Yes, she
is dead! but I did not kill her--poor girl Look! that is she! No, it
cannot be! she cannot come here! it cannot be my poor Clotelle."
At the sound of her own name, coming from the maniac's lips, Clotelle
gasped for breath, and her husband saw that she had grown deadly pale.
It seemed evident to him that the man was either guilty of some
terrible act, or imagined himself to be. His eyeballs rolled in their
sockets, and his features showed that he was undergoing "the tortures
of that inward hell," which seemed to set his whole brain on fire.
After recovering her self-possession and strength, Clotelle approached
the bedside, and laid her soft hand upon the stranger's hot and fevered
brow.
One long, loud shriek rang out on the air, and a piercing cry, "It is
she!---Yes, it is she! I see, I see! Ah! no, it is not my daughter! She
would not come to me if she could!" broke forth from him.
"I am your daughter," said Clotelle, as she pressed her handkerchief to
her face, and sobbed aloud.
Like balls of fire, the poor man's eyes rolled and glared upon the
company, while large drops of perspiration ran down his pale and
emaciated face. Strange as the scene appeared, all present saw that it
was indeed a meeting between a father and his long-lost daughter.
Jerome now ordered all present to leave the room, except the nurse, and
every effort was at once made to quiet the sufferer. When calm, a
joyous smile would illuminate the sick man's face, and a strange light
beam in his eyes, as he seemed to realize that she who stood before him
was indeed his child.
For two long days and nights did Clotelle watch at the bedside of her
father before he could speak to her intelligently. Sometimes, in his
insane fits, he would rave in the most frightful manner, and then, in a
few moments, w
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