With something of the natural poetry of fancy-something of the acquired love of effect peculiar to her profession she had caused herself to be arrayed in the novice's garb, in which Alphonse had first seen her, when her beauty captivated his senses, when her voice, among the vestal quire, struck his ear with wonder, and he formed the plan of making her his victim, and a prima donna!.. The Earl, who hated death, had left the young Countess's remains to the care of Mrs. Chester and the soi-disant brother; and De Villeneuve was now kneeling, alone, and in unbearable anguish, by the corpse of her who had so wildly, so fondly, so devotedly, loved him! And, ah! it is not over those whom we have loved, and cherished, and worshipped in vain, that our hearts seem to break as they breathe their last farewell! It is those who have loved us, cared for us, watched, comforted, never forsaken, ever believed, ever honoured, ever trusted, ever sheltered us! Death effaces all distinct recollections of the beauty that won our wildest worship, the wit that captivated, the grace that enthralled, yea, even of the intellect that dazzled .... The memory of the senses, nay, that of the mind, is brief; that of the heart is eternal. Oh! great avenger, oh, mighty Death! the unloved, who have loved on, borne with our · careless words, our cold looks, our pre-occupied hearts, and still planned for, cared for, watched for us, a day of deep and dreadful atonement comes for them; the closed eyelids have an appealing power we can never shake off! The ever-silent, placid lips convey an eternal reproach to our hearts. We may forget the being we have loved; we never forget the being who has loved us; and this is partly the cause of the unforgetting tenderness with which we treasure the memory of lost parents. While they yet live, often impatient of their care, their counsel, their tenderness when they die (and we have none to love us so again) how eternal is the regret, with what a sense of loneliness, with what an unutterable longing the heart looks from the arid and lonely present, to the fresh and fairy life we led, when watched by the omnipotence of a parent's affection! And so in woman's love!-when she really loves! However elevated the man she loves, however much he ranks above her in mind, fortune, station...... her tenderness, even for the loftiest, partakes of the watchful, protecting devotion of maternity the fearful, the ever-sacrificing, the ever watchful! - such is woman's love-such had been Zelie's love for De Villeneuve. For the first time he felt that he had been loved, and was alone! He caught Zelie's lifeless form to his heart: its stony coldness chilled him. The Past, the Present, the Future, swept across his maddened brain. He looked again on that once fondest being. He deliberately bolted the door, wrote a melo And dramatic note, in true French style, bequeathing his curse to Annie, and his heart to Ellen, requesting it might be embalmed, and placed in a crystal urn in her bridal bower. this was prompted partly by revenge, to wake a suspicion in Julian, that the heart thus bequeathed dead, had been coveted when living. Ere long a report of a pistol was heard; the door was broken open; Mrs. Chester rushed in, followed by all the household. Alphonse de Villeneuve was a corpse by the side of La Zelie. CHAPTER LXXIII. "See, my liege, see through plots and counterplots, Of human happiness glides on!" Richelieu. The family were assembled at Lindsay Hall, previously to its being resigned into the hands of the new tenants. The Reverend Gregory and Mrs. Lindsay were there, accompanied by a poor, wan, broken being, victim of India, and a liver complaint; a widow, once the most brilliant and most beautiful of Mrs. Lindsay's daughters, and who had made a great match, long the chief boast of the Matchmaker! Never had Lindsay Hall looked so lovely. The diamond river sparkled in the sun; Capricorn bounded over the bright green sod; |