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Updated: June 29, 2025
Seraphitus drew in his left foot, furnished with another "skee," which was only two feet long, turned swiftly where he stood, caught his timid companion in his arms, lifted her in spite of the long boards on her feet, and placed her on a projecting rock from which he brushed the snow with his pelisse. "You are safe there, Minna; you can tremble at your ease."
Miraculous perception guided their course, or, to speak more properly, their flight. When fissures covered with snow intercepted them, Seraphitus caught Minna in his arms and darted with rapid motion, lightly as a bird, over the crumbling causeways of the abyss.
Between him and me there is a great gulf fixed which I cannot cross. Would that I knew who loves him best, the stars or I! which of us would sacrifice our being most eagerly for his happiness! Why should I not be free to avow my love? In the presence of death we may declare our feelings, and Seraphitus is about to die."
He chills me or else he excites me; but you seem to know the cause of this cold and of this heat; tell me what it means, for you know all about him." "Yes, I have seen the causes," said Seraphitus, lowing his large eyelids. "By what power?" asked the curious Minna. "I have the gift of Specialism," he answered.
His hair is black, his eyes are full of human thoughts, his heart pours lava in every word he utters; he could kill you with caresses. Let him be your beloved, your husband! Yes, thine be Wilfrid!" Minna wept aloud. "Dare you say that you do not love him?" he went on, in a voice which pierced her like a dagger. "Have mercy, have mercy, my Seraphitus!"
A fragrance, blended of roses and of orange blossoms, yet ethereal and fugitive, gave something as it were celestial to that mysterious flower, which Seraphitus sadly contemplated, as though it uttered plaintive thoughts which he alone could understand. But to Minna this mysterious phenomenon seemed a mere caprice of nature giving to stone the freshness, softness, and perfume of plants.
She obeyed, resting her head, suddenly revived, upon the heart of her companion, who, regulating his step to hers with gentle and attentive conformity, led her to a spot whence they could see the radiant glories of the polar Nature. "Before I look, before I listen to you, tell me, Seraphitus, why you repulse me. Have I displeased you? and how? tell me!
This idea is apparently further substantiated by the fact that Seraphita was loved by Minna, a beautiful young girl to whom Seraphita was always Seraphitus, an ideal lover; and by Wilfrid, to whom Seraphita represented his ideal of feminine loveliness, both in mind and body; a young girl possessing marvelous, almost miraculous, wisdom, but yet a woman with human passions and human virtues his ideal of wifehood and motherhood.
"What will you take?" asked the old man, lighting the immensely tall wax-candles that are used in Norway. "Nothing, David, I am too weary." Seraphitus unfastened his pelisse lined with sable, threw it over him, and fell asleep.
When Minna inquired how it was that Seraphitus could read the souls of men, the answer was: "I have the gift of Specialism. Specialism is an inward sight that can penetrate all things; you will understand its full meaning only through comparison.
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