He realized he would never leave this coffin again. The thought was almost comforting. He wasn't tormented in his final hour, he felt a strange sort of ease. Visions appeared before his eyes, and when he closed them, they danced under his eyelids. But they were pleasant enough. Christine.
He saw her scouring the paper for the words that would set her free. He saw her gently weeping at the words "Erik is dead." He saw her returning, that silly boy insisting on accompanying her, despite the fact that he was quite ill and trembling. She kissed his cold forehead and returned the ring. The newlyweds both prayed for his soul. The viscount covered the grave.
He saw them weeping for the count. He felt more than a twinge of regret. He saw the boy waking screaming, and his wife comforting him, and vice versa. He saw them settling in a little cottage somewhere in Scandinavia, taking the old woman with them. The house came to life, filled with fairy tales and music and animals and comfort.
He saw a bouncing baby girl with golden ringlets and an aquiline nose like her father. He saw the baby girl grow into a toddling child, brazen enough to not cling to her mother's skirts. She became a young woman, full of life. He saw more children, each loved and cherished. He saw the father playing the fiddle and the mother singing and both telling stories, although never of the angel of music. He saw the century turn, he saw the passion never fading.
Years passed, streaks of white appeared in long, golden hair. Their children bore children, the garden bloomed, winters became bearable. He saw an sprightly old woman, white haired but youthful nonetheless. She still lit a candle every Christmas for his soul.
She loved the viscount, that was clear. He had been foolish to try to separate the young lovers. But perhaps his interference had brought them closer together, maybe good had come from his wrongdoing.
She died peacefully in her sleep, taking a nap on the sofa with her husband. She had lived a good life, he could tell. And knowing Christine would be safe, Erik expired, a smile on his malformed lips.