Seite:Marsh Hallig 1856.djvu/169

169

THE DISAPPOINTMENT.

joyment ; which reaches the poisoned chalice with the
sweetest smile, and, at the same time, unconsciously
mingles the venom in her own cup."
  "And would you not even follow me into this per-
verted world ?" said Idalia, with an affectionate glance,
while Mander and Oswald laughed at this dreadful pic-
ture of their world.
  "You !" cried Godber, as if struck by a sudden flash
— but calming himself, he added immediately, "it is
because your pure brightness has not been dimmed by
this former intercourse ; because though nursed in its
midst you have preserved your chaste feeling for true
happiness, of which the world knows nothing ; it is for
this that my soul is so chained to you, that you are to
me a priceless pearl."
  Idalia could not, at once, find an answer to these
words, and her expression, in which surprise and em-
barrassment were visible, threw an icy chill over God-
ber's enthusiasm. But Oswald said with tragi-comic
pathos :
  "Farewell, Idalia : I bow myself in profound admir-
ation before the future heroine of the green bodice and
striped petticoat ; but, for your fame's sake, I must
leave you. I will go, a winged messenger, into the
mourning circles of your native town, to bear the news
of your blessed martyrdom on this sea-embosomed altar
of love. Tour name shall shine among those constel-
lations, grown somewhat pale of late, which are sacred
to all-conquering love. Every week I will send you
over, post-free, a hundred harmonious sonnets and fifty
ambitious odes from the lips of poor broken-hearted
poets, in honor of your world-despising heart. You