ss, with both
hands falling in her lap, gazing upon it. For the moment her intellect
was clear, her heart yielded up to its new intuition. Her guardian
spirit was busy with her passionate but noble nature. She felt, for
the first time, in all its force, how wrong she was acting, how
indelicate was her situation. It seemed as if she were that moment
cast adrift from her father's love--from her own lofty
self-appreciation. The heart that had swelled and throbbed so warmly a
moment before, now lay heavy in her bosom, shrinking from the destiny
prepared for it. Just then the sound of a voice penetrated the thick
foliage of the fruit tree, and she started up once more full of
conflicting emotions. It was Jameson's voice that reached her as he
passed with his friend beneath the fruit trees. She heard no syllable
of what he was saying, but the very tone, as it came softened and low
through the perfume and sweetness that floated around her, was enough
to fling her soul into fresh tumult. How she trembled; how warm and
red came the passion-fire of that delicate cheek, as she flung the
black garment from off her superb form, and hurried on the bridal
array. It was very chaste, and utterly without pretension, that
wedding-dress, knots of snowy ribbon fastened it at the shoulders and
bosom, and the exquisite whiteness was unbroken save by the glow that
warmed her neck and bosom almost to a blush, and the purplish gloss
upon her tresses, that fell in raven masses down to her shoulders.

She took a glance in the old mirror, encompassed by its frame-work of
ebony, carved and elaborated at the top and bottom into a dark
net-work of fine filagree; she saw herself--a bride. Again the wing of
her guardian angel beat against her heart. The unbroken whiteness of
her array seemed to fold her like a shroud, and like that thing which
a shroud clings to, became the pallor which settled on her features;
for behind her own figure, and moving, as it were, in the background
of the mirror, she saw the image of her lover and his friend, talking
earnestly together. The friend stood with his back toward her, but
_his_ face she saw distinctly, and that smile was on his lips, cold,
crafty, almost contemptuous. Was it Jameson, or only something mocking
her from the mirror? She went to the window, drew aside the filmy
lace, and looked forth. Truly it was her lover; through an interstice
of the apple boughs she saw him distinctly, and he saw her--that
smil