Still the
file worked.
Suddenly it ceased working. It seemed to me that they both had
withdrawn, and my neck still remained in bondage, though my legs were
free. I knew that my legs were free though I had not the power to
test this by drawing them up. I tried once, and closed my eyes,
swooning with pain.
Upon the swoon broke a shattering blow, across my legs and below the
knees; a blow that lifted my body to clutch with both hands upon
night and fall back again upon black unconsciousness.
CHAPTER XIX.
HOW MARC'ANTONIO NURSED ME AND GAVE ME COUNSEL.
"Yet sometimes famous Princes like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,
Tell thee, with speechless tongues and semblance pale,
That without covering, save yon field of stars,
They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist
For going on Death's net, whom none resist."
_Pericles, Prince of Tyre_.
His honour forbidding him to kill me, the Prince Camillo had given
orders to break my legs: and since to abandon me in this plight went
against the conscience of his followers (and even, it is possible,
against his own), he had left Marc'antonio behind to nurse me--thus
gratifying a second spite.
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