When first I took him in my arms,
he made no sound, but leaned his head against my bosom, and kept it
there, as if he would say, How could you leave me? They told me, that
all the day of my departure he would not be comforted, always looking
toward the door. He has been a strangely precocious infant, I think,
through sympathy with me, for I worked very hard before his birth,
with the hope that all my spirit might be incarnated in him. In
that regard, it may have been good for him to be with these more
instinctively joyous natures. I see that he is more serene, is less
sensitive, than when with me, and sleeps better. The most solid
happiness I have known has been when he has gone to sleep in my arms.
What cruel sacrifices have I made to guard my secret for the present,
and to have the mode of disclosure at my own option! It will, indeed,
be just like all the rest, if these sacrifices are made in vain."
* * * * *
At Rieti, Margaret rested till the middle of April, when, returning
once more to Rome, she was, as we have seen, shut up within the
beleagured city.
The siege ended, the anxious mother was free to seek her child once
more, in his nest among the mountains.
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