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not be entombed beneath a solid marble pile: but the face of the deep, with its changeful hues and emotions, for the mind of Iarine, was her mother's monument, and strains like these she dedicated to her memory :

Poor is the portrait that one look portrays,

It mocks the face on which we loved to gaze;
A thousand past expressions all combin'd,
The mind itself depictured by the mind,

That face contains which in the heart is shrin'd.
Yet, dearest mother, if on lasting brass
Thy very self to future times might pass,
Ill could I bear such monument to build
For future times with dearer memories filled :
Ah no! thy fadeless portrait in my breast
From earth shall vanish when I sink to rest;
But, ere to join thee on glad wings I go,
Thy sun-like influence, beaming here below,
In sorrow's hour, when earthly hope betrays me
To heaven above, my hope's best aim, shall raise me,
In hours of bliss when heaven almost seems here.
For thy sweet memory claim the tribute tear;
So yon bright orb doth tearful incense gain
From glittering lake, sweet rill, and humid plain,
Yet dries the spray that trembled in the shower,
And shines reflected from each dripping flower.

CHAPTER XLV.

IARINE FINDS HER BROTHERS IN THE GROVE WHERE PHANTASMION FIRST SAW POTENTILLA.

WHEN the days of mourning had expired, all the children of Magnart, with the kings who had espoused Zelneth and Leucoia, accompanied Phantasmion and his betrothed princess to Palmland, that they might be present at their nuptials. The country palace where the young monarch had always resided lay in their way, being at no great distance from the confines of Rockland; and here it was resolved that the company should sojourn, while preparations were made for the wedding in the principal city. There was a strange look on earth and sky when Iarine entered that regal domain, a hot sun being veiled by bluish mist; her cheeks glowed and her breath laboured with the stifled heat and with eager anticipation, for she expected shortly to behold her long lost infant brother. Eurelio was to be lord of Gemmaura, so Phantasmion had declared; but how could she rejoice over him without grieving for Albinet? And alas! where was Albinet to be found, or how could she discharge toward that beloved boy her promise to his father? With beating bosom she hastened onward, and entered the grove where Potentilla first showed herself to Phantasmion. There she espied a child just old enough to run alone, caressing a poor boy in tattered

Iarine

clothes, and presenting him with fruits, toys, and fragments of cake from a basket where all were mingled together. Close by was a woman who wore a beggar's garb, and seemed in woeful plight; she sate upon the ground, her head inclined against a tree, watching that fair child and his pale comrade, who ate the dainties given him by the rosy little one as if he were well nigh famished. Her looks were full of misery, but not a tear-drop glittered down her ghastly cheek. knew at once that the younger child was Eurelio, and flew to embrace her darling charge, twice lost, and now twice found. While she held him in her arms, the sickly boy wept, and, catching her robe, exclaimed, "O sister, wilt thou not speak to me? art thou, too, turned against me?" Startled by the sound of a well known voice, the lady looked at him steadfastly, and saw that he was her father's heir, the poor rejected Albinet. Then she gave Eurelio to his nurse, who had come up in breathless haste, and tenderly caressed her weeping brother, shedding tears herself while she wiped the big drops which fell from his eyes.

But soon his face beamed with happiness, though wan as frosted roses, and, turning to the wretched woman, who vainly strove to rise, "Mother," he cried, "our griefs are ended now here is Iarine. Sister, didst thou find that healing well? If thou hast any of the water left, I pray thee give it to my mother." By this time the gentle princess had recognised Maudra's altered face, and, kneeling beside her, whispered words of consolation, declaring that she herself would be protected, and Albinet restored to his rights, by the generous king of Palmland.

Tears now gushed in torrents from the

eyes of Maudra, but still she could make no reply; her evil counsellor, whom she had met on the sea-shore, after the destruction of Glandreth, and frantically strove to punish, had stricken a deadly chill into her frame and rendered her speechless. And now Phantasmion was seen holding up the charmed vessel among the boughs of the pomegranate tree, which stood a little way back within the grove. Potentilla sat in the shadow, while Feydeleen, less hidden by the foliage, was pouring a fragrant liquid from her chalice into the pitcher: and just as Zelneth and Leucoia, with the rest of the company, arrived, he shed the flower-spirit's balmy gift on the head of Albinet, whose body gradually changed as the precious drops trickled over it, till by the time they reached the ground he stood erect in blooming health and vigour. His limbs, on which the ragged garments had before hung loose, now muscular and shapely, filled them out to their full stretch; his form was upright, and his cheeks, though not so round and soft, were blooming as those of Eurelio. Maudra had witnessed the change with flushed cheek and gleaming eye, but could not utter a word of joy or thankfulness. Albinet flung his arms around her neck; "O mother!" he said, "why art thou not healed of this dire malady?" But Maudra scarcely thought of him or that; for now again her eye was fastened on Eurelio. Iarine observed that look, and blamed herself that she had so long delayed to place the lost one in his mother's arms. In haste she brought him to her side, and gently whispered, "This is thy rescued babe, thy sweet Eurelio!" Joy lighted up the face of the dying woman at these words; she strove to clasp the smiling child to her bosom; but, ere she

reached him, her sight failed, and, sinking backwards, she expired in the arms of Albinet.

A little while afterwards Phantasmion looked down into the grove, and saw the heir of Rockland leaning against a tree, with his weeping eyes fixed upon the ground. The Flower Spirit gleamed beside him in the hazy light, and seemed to smile, as she bent forward, like a sapling swayed by a gentle breeze, to crown his drooping brow with thornless roses. Eurelio was too young to weep the death of Maudra; he thought she slumbered when silently and softly she was borne away. With Potentilla's wand he struck a hollow trunk of sycamore, and sweetly his childish laughter rang through the grove when myriads of bees came crowding forth, and shone with all the dyes of the opal, as they hung from a branch above his head. Phantasmion felt as if he had dreamed of years, not lived them; the fairy looked as old and upright as when she first appeared to him; the trees around all seemed as green and flourishing; the grove was filled with just the same soft insect murmur, and that bright swarm hung dazzling as of yore.

But lo! the sun has broken through its hazy veil, and Feydeleen's soft cheek, as if it faded in the brilliant light, is seen no more among the blossoms; Albinet raises his head, from which the airy chaplet melts away, and with wonder-stricken eyes Eurelio gazes upward, for Potentilla has risen from his side. A moment yet the wings of her insect steeds are painted against the background of one lingering cloudlet but now they disappear, while earth below, suffused with splendour, becomes a softened image of the heavens themselves.

Phantasmion looked round in momentary dread, lest

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