and partition walls, all but a
small portion which hung slanting from a few rafters still adhering to
the remaining corner of the end gable. The eyes of my companions seemed
drawn by sympathetic impulse towards that forlorn remnant; and, calling
to mind the words of Hallings, I was at no loss to account for the deep
and sorrowful interest with which they dwelt upon it. After a long
pause, a look of intelligence passed between them; and the old man,
first breaking silence, said, with a deep sigh,--"That is the very
place, sir! The very spot where I stood by the easy-chair in which my
dear master breathed his last, his head supported on my shoulder."

"And it was there you found him, was it not, Hallings, when"----

"Yes, sir! yes! there, in that very spot, from whence, as you see, he
could just reach the mantel-shelf, where stood"--But here the old
servant stopt abruptly, glancing towards me a look of troubled
consciousness; and L----, hastening to relieve his embarrassment, said,
"Fear nothing, good Hallings, from my friend Hervey here! He is one from
whom I have no secrets--who would feel as you and I do on the subject of
your thoughts, if he were acquainted with it. But neither you nor I must
now dwell on it longer. You have said it, Hallings--'God is merciful!' To
Him we commit the issue. And now, a long farewell to Devereux Hall!"

So saying, my friend cast round him one long leisurely survey of the
desolated spot, turning again, and lingering yet a moment on what had
been the threshold of the glass door into the Library. The short
twilight was already brightening into silvery moonlight, edging the dark
glossy leaves of the old bay-tree by the ruined gable, towards which its
tall spiral top (just agitated by a passing breeze) swayed with slow and
melancholy motion, while a shivering sound ran through the crisped
foliage and long rustling branches, like whisperings and lamentations
of good genii departing from the scene of their long-delegated
guardianship. As he gazed with these "thick-coming fancies" on the fine
old evergreens, so magnificent in sombre beauty, I was startled by the
sudden disturbance of its lower boughs, and by a sound proceeding from
them more hoarse and deep, if not more ominous, than the low unearthly
murmurs I had been listening to with such excited feelings. My
exclamation roused Hallings from the abstraction he had fallen into
while taking his farewell look at all that remained of the venera