nd actually
humble to servility. "Oh, if I could but be sure of this,--if I could
know that I could bury both my shame and my sorrow together!" In this
vacillating state of suspense--one day all hope and confidence, the
next, terror and dread--she lived on, till the period drew nigh for
their departure from Vienna.

Madame de Heidendorf had delayed beyond her intention, in the hope of
receiving some French news; and Kate eagerly watched the post for some
tidings from home,--for home it still was, in every feeling of her heart

"No letters again, Nina?" said she, despondingly, as the maid entered
the room.

"None, Madame."

"Have your friends forgotten you, Nina, as well as mine appear to have
done?"

"Nina has but few friends, Madame; and still fewer would think of
writing to her!"

"Poor Nina!" said Kate, affectionately; and the blood rushed to the
girl's face at the words, and her eyes flashed with an expression of
sudden passion.

"No pity, Madame,----no pity!" cried she, with a voice full of emotion,
"or I may forget myself,--forget myself and you also!" And with these
words she hurried from the room, without waiting for more. Kate sat
shocked and abashed by the girl's violence, and yet neither daring to
reprove her nor even remonstrate with her. What abject slavery was this
to feel! How mean did she seem to her own heart! What rottenness was
within that gilded splendor by which she was surrounded! Where was the
ambitious envy with which she once looked up to the rich and powerful
now? Where that intense desire to be among the great and the titled? and
with whom would she not have changed conditions, even to Nina herself?

It is not weak of heart and low of courage that one should face
the great journey of life. Its trials and crosses, even to the most
fortunate, demand all that we can summon of hope and of energy. And
yet so was it that she was about to begin the road--the long and dreary
road--before her! As she sat thus musing, a great noise was heard from
the street without. She arose and opened the window. The whole Platz
was crammed with people, eagerly talking and gesticulating. A surging,
waving motion, too, seemed to sway them, and at length she could detect
that they were slowly proceeding onward towards the gate of the city.
The deep roll of a drum then turned her attention, and, in the far
distance, she saw the glancing bayonets of an infantry column as they
advanced.

Military spectacles ar