If you have fallen, you were
young, and strangely tempted.'
'Yet Israel, Israel! Did I not feel a worthier leader will yet arise, my
heart would crack. I have betrayed my country!'
'Oh no, no, no! You have shown what we can do and shall do. Your memory
alone is inspiration. A great career, although baulked of its end, is
still a landmark of human energy. Failure, when sublime, is not without
its purpose. Great deeds are great legacies, and work with wondrous
usury. By what Man has done, we learn what Man can do; and gauge the
power and prospects of our race.'
'Alas! there is no one to guard my name. 'Twill be reviled; or worse,
'twill be forgotten.'
'Never! the memory of great actions never dies. The sun of glory, though
awhile obscured, will shine at last. And so, sweet brother, perchance
some poet, in some distant age, within whose veins our sacred blood may
flow, his fancy fired with the national theme, may strike his harp to
Alroy's wild career, and consecrate a name too long forgotten?'
'May love make thee a prophetess!' exclaimed Alroy, as he bent down his
head and embraced her. 'Do not tarry,' he whispered. ''Tis better that
we should part in this firm mood.'
She sprang from him, she clasped her hands.
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