They held each other in a last embrace. Anna wept hot tears, but Julia
remained calm, and even smiled.
"They may send me to Siberia, if they please, my heart will remain warm
under the coldness of the Siberian climate, and this great happiness of
knowing that you and yours are saved they cannot rend from me; that will
be for me a talisman against all misfortunes!"
"But I," sadly responded Anna--"shall I not always be tortured by the
reflection that it is I who have been the cause of your misfortunes? Are
you not condemned because you loved and were true to me? Ah, does love,
then, deserve so hard a punishment?"
"The punishment passes, but love remains," calmly responded Julia. "That
will always be my consolation."
"And mine also," sighed Anna.
"You will not need it," said Julia, with a smile. "You, at least, will
be happy."
Anna sighed again, and her cheek paled. A dark and terrible image arose
in her soul, and she shudderingly whispered:
"Ah, would that we were once beyond the Russian boundary, for then,
first, shall we be free."
"Then let us hasten our journey," said Prince Ulrich; "once in the
sledge, and every minute brings us nearer to freedom and happiness.
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