It was bereft of all its sumptuous furniture and rich ornaments; the repeated incursions of the robbers had left nothing that was valuable or beautiful. But she who had so often presided in that very chamber, amid a crowd of admiring guests, was there,—yet alas, how changed! Her graceful form reduced to a living skeleton, her lovely features sunk and disfigured, and all that had given a charm to her presence departed. Her eyes burnt with an almost unearthly glare, and on her cheek was a bright hectic spot, the token of fever or delirium.
She sat upon the ground, and when Isaac entered, her head was upon her knees, and her face concealed. She had not heard or heeded the noise of his violent entrance, and moved not until his footsteps on the uncovered marble pavement roused her from her painful reverie. Then she looked wildly up, and starting on her feet, exclaimed, in a hollow and hurried tone,—
"Ah, Isaac, my betrothed husband, are you come at last to claim your bride? I was fairer in those happy days when you first saw me in my pride and my beauty. But hunger and strange thoughts have worn sad ravages upon the form you used to praise."
Isaac did not reply: the memory of other scenes came over his mind, and even he was moved at the sight of the wreck of mind and body before him. Mary continued in the same wandering strain,—
"You see my apartments are not decked for our wedding, Isaac; the spoilers have taken away all my goodly furniture. But, Isaac," she added in a whisper, while she laid her wasted hand upon his arm, "I have a feast prepared—a wedding feast! Do not tell your comrades, for there is not enough for all. I have eaten and am satisfied, and I have reserved the rest for you. See here!"
FAMINE AND MADNESS.
She drew him towards a couch at the end of the room, and raised the corner of the hangings. There he beheld the mangled body of a little child which had been roasted, and from which part of the flesh had been torn and devoured.
The bloodthirsty, the cruel Isaac drew back with a cry of horror, and a shudder passed through his powerful frame, while the blood curdled in the veins of his companions, who had followed closely, in the hope of partaking in the expected meal.