hen the existing produce for man's sustenance would no longer
suffice for us, and what mode of life we should then adopt. We should have
considered more carefully our future plans, and debated concerning the spot
where we should in future dwell. But summer and the plague were near, and
we dared not look forward. Every heart sickened at the thought of
amusement; if the younger part of our community were ever impelled, by
youthful and untamed hilarity, to enter on any dance or song, to cheer the
melancholy time, they would suddenly break off, checked by a mournful look
or agonizing sigh from any one among them, who was prevented by sorrows and
losses from mingling in the festivity. If laughter echoed under our roof,
yet the heart was vacant of joy; and, when ever it chanced that I witnessed
such attempts at pastime, they encreased instead of diminishing my sense of
woe. In the midst of the pleasure-hunting throng, I would close my eyes,
and see before me the obscure cavern, where was garnered the mortality of
Idris, and the dead lay around, mouldering in hushed repose. When I again
became aware of the present hour, softest melody of Lydian flute, or
harmonious maze of graceful dance, was but as the demoniac chorus in the
Wolf's Glen, and the caperings of the reptiles that surrounded the magic
circle.

My dearest interval of peace occurred, when, released from the obligation
of associating with the crowd, I could repose in the dear home where my
children lived. Children I say, for the tenderest emotions of paternity
bound me to Clara. She was now fourteen; sorrow, and deep insight into the
scenes around her, calmed the restless spirit of girlhood; while the
remembrance of her father whom she idolized, and respect for me and Adrian,
implanted an high sense of duty in her young heart. Though serious she was
not sad; the eager desire that makes us all, when young, plume our wings,
and stretch our necks, that we may more swiftly alight tiptoe on the height
of maturity, was subdued in her by early experience. All that she could
spare of overflowing love from her parents' memory, and attention to her
living relatives, was spent upon religion. This was the hidden law of her
heart, which she concealed with childish reserve, and cherished the more
because it was secret. What faith so entire, what charity so pure, what
hope so fervent, as that of early youth? and she, all love, all tenderness
and trust, who from infancy had been tosse