The countess clung to the bosom of her son. Thaddeus
clasped her close to his breast, and casting up his petitioning eyes
to heaven, cried, "Shield of the desolate! grant me a shelter for my
mother!"
Another burst of cannon was followed by a heavy crash, and the most
piercing shrieks echoed through the palace. "All is lost!" cried a
soldier, who appeared for an instant at the room door, and then
vanished.
Thaddeus, overwhelmed with despair, grasped his sword, which had
fallen to the ground, and crying, "My mother, we will die together!"
would have given her one last and assuring embrace, when his eyes met
the sight of her before-agitated features tranquillized in death. She
fell from his palsied arms back on the couch, and he stood gazing on
her as if struck by a power which had benumbed all his faculties.
The tumult in the palace increased every moment; but he heard it not,
until Butzou, followed by two or three of his soldiers, ran into the
apartment, calling out "Count, save yourself!"
Sobieski still remained motionless. The general caught him by the
arm, and instantly covering the body of the deceased countess with
the mantle of her son, hurried his unconscious steps, by an opposite
door, through the state chambers into the gardens.
Thaddeus did not recover his recollection until he reached the
outward gate; then, breaking from the hold of his friend, was
returning to the sorrowful scene he had left, when Butzou, aware of
his intentions, just stopped him in time to prevent his rushing on
the bayonets of a party of the enemy's infantry, who were pursuing
them at full speed.
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