hom
he doted, that Wagner sped with lightning rapidity toward the mountains.

But the beauteous form of Nisida met not now his eyes; and deeply,
profoundly, ardently as he still loved her, and felt that he must ever
love her, yet, to speak soothly, he deplored not that she was no longer
there. The vision of the previous night had so firmly established hope
in his soul, that he had prepared and tutored himself, during his
journey across the mountains, to sacrifice all his happiness on earth to
insure the eternal felicity of heaven.

No. Nisida was not there. But as he drew closer to the shore, he beheld,
to his ineffable joy, the dark spot gradually assume that defined shape
which left no room to doubt the truth of his vision, even were he
inclined to be skeptical. For there, indeed, touching the strand, but
still so far in the water that a slight exertion would send it
completely afloat, was a large boat, curiously shaped, and painted in a
variety of fantastic colors. It had a mast standing, but the sail was
lowered and, on a closer inspection, the boat proved to be altogether
unimpaired.

"Heaven delights to effect its wise intentions by natural means,"
thought Wagner within himself. "But surely it could not have been
through the agency of Nisida that this boat was left upon the shore?
No," he added aloud, after a still closer inspection; "the rope fastened
to the prow has been snapped asunder! Doubtless the boat became detached
from one of the ships which appeared off the island yesterday, and
which," he said in a low murmuring voice, and with an ill-subdued sigh,
"have afforded Nisida the means of departure hence."

He sat down, exhausted; and as he found leisure for recollection--as his
thoughts composed themselves and settled down into something like
collected calmness--he felt a sensation of indescribable joy at having
triumphed over the appalling temptations which had beset him. And in his
soul a voice seemed to be singing an anthem of delight and gratitude;
and he soon experienced a serenity of mind such as he had not known for
many hours past! When man, having yielded to temptation, succeeds in
escaping the perils of the consequences, he beholds a strong motive for
self-gratulation;--but how ineffably more sweet is it to be able to
reflect that the temptation itself has been avoided in the first
instance, and that the dangers of the results have never even been
risked.

Thus thought Wagner:--but not for a