aintness, and lasting for several hours. The
physicians pronounced them cataleptic in their nature, saying that they
brought no danger, and that she would certainly outgrow them. They were
sometimes produced by fatigue, sometimes by excitement, but they brought
no agitation with them, nor any development of abnormal powers. They
simply wrapped her in a profound repose, from which no effort could
rouse her, till the trance passed by. Her eyes gradually closed,
her voice died away, and all movement ceased, save that her eyelids
sometimes trembled without opening, and sweet evanescent expressions
chased each other across her face,--the shadows of thoughts unseen.
For a time she seemed to distinguish the touch of different persons by
preference or pain; but soon even this sign of recognition vanished, and
the household could only wait and watch, while she sank into deeper and
yet deeper repose.

There was something inexpressibly sweet, appealing, and touching in this
impenetrable slumber, when it was at its deepest. She looked so young,
so delicate, so lovely; it was as if she had entered into a shrine, and
some sacred curtain had been dropped to shield her from all the cares
and perplexities of life. She lived, she breathed, and yet all the
storms of life could but beat against her powerless, as the waves beat
on the shore. Safe in this beautiful semblance of death,--her pulse a
little accelerated, her rich color only softened, her eyelids drooping,
her exquisite mouth curved into the sweetness it had lacked in
waking,--she lay unconscious and supreme, the temporary monarch of the
household, entranced upon her throne. A few hours having passed, she
suddenly waked, and was a self-willed, passionate girl once more. When
she spoke, it was with a voice wholly natural; she had no recollection
of what had happened, and no curiosity to learn.

X. REMONSTRANCES.

IT had been a lovely summer day, with a tinge of autumnal coolness
toward nightfall, ending in what Aunt Jane called a "quince-jelly
sunset." Kate and Emilia sat upon the Blue Rocks, earnestly talking.

"Promise, Emilia!" said Kate.

Emilia said nothing.

"Remember," continued Kate, "he is Hope's betrothed. Promise, promise,
promise!"

Emilia looked into Kate's face and saw it flushed with a generous
eagerness, that called forth an answering look in her. She tried to
speak, and the words died into silence. There was a pause, while each
watched the other.