Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/164

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—"Yes, Carlos, it is me."

—"Ah! dare I believe it, that I hold thee again in my arms? How can I hold thee fast enough, for fear of thy dying a third time? Behold, my love, here is the handkerchief, with which I caught the blood which streamed from thy deadly wounds by my side in the carriage. I have had it about me ever since."

Elmira beheld both me and the handkerchief with amazement

—"What say you, Carlos? I—streaming with blood by thy side in the carriage!—Indeed, I don't understand you!"

—"What? Have you forgotten all!—How we escaped from the Genius? How these hands carried you to the carriage, to quit the villa for ever?—How a pistol shot made you expire in a few minutes?"

She looked at me with a smile of bitter sorrow.

—"Poor Carlos!—Joy has deprived you of your senses! Do you recollect what you have just spoken?"