r, a large and an increasing class of society, and, to our
national shame be it said, they are distinctively English in origin. And
now we leave her, little regretting if it be forever; and if we turn
to a darker page in our story, it is, at least, to one wherein our
sympathies are more fairly enlisted.

That long night passed over like a dreary dream, and morning was now
mingling its beams with the glare of the tapers, as Nelly sat beside the
death-bed.

"Come with me, Fraeulein! come away from this," said Hanserl, as with a
tearful eye and quivering lip he stood before her.

Nelly shook her head slowly, and for answer turned her gaze on the dead
man.

"You shall come back again; I promise you, you shall come back again,"
said he, softly.

She arose without a word and followed him. They passed through an outer
room, and entered the garden, where Hans, taking her hand, led her to a
seat.

"You will be better here, Fraeulein," said he, respectfully; "the air is
fresh and balmy."

"He sat beside me on this bench three nights ago," said she, as if
talking to herself, "and said how he wished I could be with Kate, but
that he could not part with me; and see,--we are parted, and for a
longer separation! Oh, Hanserl! what we would give to recall some of the
past, when death has closed it forever against us!"

"Remember Wieland, Fraeulein; he tells us that 'the Impossible is a tree
without fruit or flowers.'"

"And yet my mind will dwell on nothing else. The little thwartings of
his will, the cold compliance which should have been yielded in a better
spirit, the counsels that often only irritated,--how they rise up now,
like stern accusers, before me, and tell me that I failed in my duty."

"Not so, Fraeulein, not so," said Hans, reverently.

"But there is worse than that, Hanserl, far worse," said she, trembling.
"To smooth the rough path of life, I descended to deception. I told him
the best when my heart felt the worst. Had he known of Kate's real life,
and had he sorrowed over _her_ fortunes, might not such grief have been
hallowed to him! To have wept over Frank--the poor boy in prison--might
have raised his thoughts to other themes than the dissipation that
surrounded him. All this was _my_ fault I would have his love, and see
the price it has cost me!" She hid her face between her hands, and never
spoke for a long time. And at length she lifted up her eyes, red as they
were with weeping, and with a heavy si