Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/225

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
OVER THE BERESINA.
215

for his mother, and refused to be comforted; so that a child's tears drew away the eyes of Henri from the agonized faces of strong men, who were looking up to Heaven with their last appeal for mercy ere they sank to rise no more.

Scarcely had the boat touched the opposite bank of the stream, when a lady ran down to meet it, and stretched out her arms to receive the boy. But the next moment a cry of bitter disappointment rang through the air. This was not her child—not the darling for whose recovery she had offered all her golden store. The broken-hearted mother turned away, and Henri saw her no more. Still holding Guido in his arms, he followed listlessly and mechanically the stream of fugitives who were taking the road to Vilna.