ceived her;
he came to her with his own peculiar smile; he drew her to his bosom in
silence; he pressed his lips to her forehead: she leaned upon his bosom,
and forgot all but him. Oh! if there be one feeling which makes Love,
even guilty Love, a god, it is the knowledge that in the midst of
this breathing world he reigns aloof and alone; and that those who are
occupied with his worship know nothing of the pettiness, the strife,
the bustle which, pollute and agitate the ordinary inhabitants of earth!
What was now to them, as they stood alone in the deep stillness of
Nature, everything that had engrossed them before they had met and
loved? Even in her, the recollections of guilt and grief subsided: she
was only sensible of one thought--the presence of the being who stood
beside her,

That ocean to the rivers of her soul.

They sat down beneath an oak: Falkland stooped to kiss the cold and pale
cheek that still rested upon his breast. His kisses were like lava: the
turbulent and stormy elements of sin and desire were aroused even to
madness within him. He clasped her still nearer to his bosom: her lips
answered to his own: they caught perhaps something of the spirit which
they received: her eyes were half-closed; the bosom heaved wildly that
was pressed to his beating and burning heart. The skies grew darker and
darker as the night stole over them: one low roll of thunder broke upon
the curtained and heavy air--they did not hear it; and yet it was the
knell of peace--virtue--hope--lost, lost for ever to their souls!

They separated as they had never done before. In Emily's bosom there was
a dreary void--a vast blank-over which there went a low deep voice like
a Spirit's--a sound indistinct and strange, that spoke a language she
knew not; but felt that it told of woe-guilt-doom. Her senses were
stunned: the vitality of her feelings was numbed and torpid: the first
herald of despair is insensibility. "Tomorrow then," said Falkland--and
his voice for the first time seemed strange and harsh to her--"we
will fly hence for ever: meet me at daybreak--the carriage shall be in
attendance--we cannot now unite too soon--would that at this very moment
we were prepared!"--"To-morrow!" repeated Emily, "at daybreak!" and as
she clung to him, he felt her shudder: "to-morrow-ay-to-morrow!--" one
kiss--one embrace--one word--farewell--and they parted.

Falkland returned to L------, a gloomy foreboding rested upon his mind:
that