t, was still under the cloud from
which he threatened every instant to draw down the lightning that was
to strike him to death.

When I returned from my journey, I called again upon the unfortunate
man, in the hope of finding some amelioration in his condition, as
well as that of his daughter. I found him still in bed, though he had
been up and out on several occasions since I visited him. I saw no
signs of improvement. I endeavoured to get him engaged in a
conversation about his own condition; but I saw that, in place of
being fond of dwelling on the state of his mind, talking of his
sorrows, and contemplating the purpose he entertained against his
existence, he showed an utter repugnance to the subject, having become
perfectly taciturn, sullen, and morose, giving me monosyllables for
answers, and sometimes not deigning even to show that he attended to
me, or understood me. The only thing that seemed to interest him was
his daughter's marriage--looking dark and gloomy when the subject was
broached, and muttering indistinct words of reproach and anger. The
condition of his daughter was changed; but it was only a new form of
anguish. Some days previous, she had observed him with another razor
in his hand; but he had secreted it somewhere, and all her efforts had
as yet been ineffectual to get it. Her watch had therefore been more
unremitting--her apprehensions were increased, while her strength was
greatly diminished. She was reduced to a shadow; the pale skin that
covered her face seemed to be in contact with the bones; while her
eyes burned with fever and excitement. Yet _her marriage_ was fixed to
take place two or three days after! She could not avoid it; she had
pledged her word, and her father's safety depended in a great degree
upon it. She could bear her condition no longer--all her powers of
suffering were worn out; and if her father would not permit her
husband to remain in the house, she would, she said, allow the latter
to exercise what authority he pleased, in endeavouring, by force, to
save his father-in-law and his wife from the ruin that seemed to await
them. The gloom that enveloped her mind was deepened by the contrast
of the light of a happiness she had long sighed for, now changed into
a refinement of peculiar pain. She shuddered when she thought of her
marriage with the man she loved, and feared that the power of Heaven
would fall on her, for presuming to bring joy into the chamber of
mourning, if n