The chill of death struck through
the velvet to her touch. She turned pale; and waving her hand to the
prior to begin, the bier was lowered by the priests into the tomb
beneath. As it descended, Helen sunk upon her knees, and the anthem
for departed souls was raised. The pealing notes, as they rose and
swelled, seemed to bear up the spirit of the sainted Marion to its
native heaven; and the tears which now flowed from the eyes of Helen,
as they mingled with her pious aspirations, seemed the balm of paradise
descending upon her soul.
When all was over, the venerable Halbert, who had concealed his
overwhelming sorrow behind a pillar, threw himself on the cold stone
which now closed the last chamber of his mistress. With faint cries,
he gave way to the woe that shook his aged bosom, and called on death
to lay him low with her. The women of Lady Helen again chanted forth
their melancholy wailings for the dead; and unable longer to bear the
scene, she grasped the arm of her cousin, and with difficulty walked
from the chapel.
Chapter IX.
Bothwell Dungeons.
Having rewarded his trusty followers with their promised war-bonnets
from the hand of Helen, and dispatched them onward to the foot of
Cartiane Craigs, to await his arrival with the larger levy.
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