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The Pastor Chief and other Stories: Waldensian Historical Fiction in the Nineteenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 January 2016
Extract
[The Pastor spoke.] The whole audience listened to this brief but emphatic address as if spell-bound. Curiosity had moved them to listen; amazement at the supernatural calmness of the speaker held them attentive; and as he uttered the last words and turned his eyes from the human throng beneath him, to the clear, blue vault of heaven, his countenance became so radiant with hope and joy, so indicative of a soul already severed from the things of time, and sharing - ere yet stripped of its clay tabernacle - in ‘the blessedness of the just made perfect,’ that every eye became riveted upon it, with the rapture of admiring awe; and it was the breathless silence of the spectators which at length roused Jacomel from the oblivion to which alone all were indebted for the unwonted mercy of such a pause.
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References
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