He slept about half-an-hour, and Karl's imprisoned arm went from a state of pins and needles into the cramp. When Adam awoke, there was a smile on his face and a peaceful rest in his eyes. He was quite collected.
"Karl, I dreamt of them again: but they had turned to angels. They were here, all about my bed. Oh Karl, I wish you could see them as I saw them! you'd never be afraid of anything more in this world. What's that?"
Karl turned round: for Adam's eyes were fixed on something or other behind him. He could see nothing save a streak of light, herald of the dawn, that came in at the side of the blind.
"Do you mean the light, Adam? It's the dawn breaking."
"Ay. My dawn. Draw up the blind. Karl."
Softly, not to awake Rose, Karl drew it up. Rose-coloured clouds, heralds of a beauteous sunrise, flooded the East. Adam lay and gazed at it, the smile on his face changing to a rapt look that seemed to speak of heaven, more than of earth.
"It will be better there than here, Karl. For me."
"Better for all of us."
"I am very happy, Karl. The world is fading from me: heaven opening. Forgive me all that I have cost you."
Karl's heart and eyes were alike full.