er griefs had been so deep, her bereavements so utter and
heart-rending, that this change seemed to her only a mitigation of
misery, and not an accession of joy. She was informed of the death of
her mother and her aunt, and, weeping over her desolation, she emerged
from her prison cell and entered the carriage to return to the palaces
of Austria, where her unhappy mother had passed the hours of her
childhood. As she rode along through the green fields and looked out
upon the blue sky, through which the summer's sun was shedding its
beams--as she felt the pure air, from which she had so long been
excluded, fanning her cheeks, and realized that she was safe from
insults and once more free, anguish gave place to a calm and settled
melancholy. She arrived in Vienna. Love and admiration encircled her.
Every heart vied in endeavors to lavish soothing words and delicate
attentions upon this stricken child of grief. She buried her face in the
bosoms of those thus soliciting her love, her eyes were flooded with
tears, and she sobbed with almost a bursting heart. After her arrival in
Vienna, one full year passed away before a smile could ever be won to
visit her cheek. Woes such as she had endured pass not away like the
mists of the morning. The hideous dream haunted her by day and by night.
The headless trunks of her father, her mother, and her aunt were ever
before her eyes. Her beloved brother, suffering and dying upon a
beggar's bed, was ever present in her dreams while reposing under the
imperial canopy of the Austrian kings. The past had been so long and so
awful that it seemed an ever-living reality. The sudden change she could
hardly credit but as the delirium of a dream.

Time, however, will diminish the poignancy of every sorrow save those of
remorse. Maria was now again in a regal palace, surrounded with every
luxury which earth could confer. She was young and beautiful. She was
beloved, and almost adored. Every monarch, every prince, every
embassador from a foreign court, delighted to pay her especial honor. No
heart throbbed near her but with the desire to render her some
compensation for the wrongs and the woes which had fallen upon her
youthful and guileless heart. Wherever she appeared, she was greeted
with love and homage. Those who had never seen her would willingly peril
their lives in any way to serve her. Thus was she raised to
consideration, and enshrined in the affections of every soul retaining
one spark o