ch had so lately absorbed all my faculties!
What a contrast; was now before me to the pomps and pleasures of the
fete! On a table, in the guard-house, lay a human form, scarcely visible
by the single dim light which flickered over it from the roof. Some of
the dragoons, covered with the marks of long travel, and weary, were
lounging on the benches, or gazing on the unhappy countenance which lay,
as if in sleep or death, before them. A sabre wound had covered his
forehead with gore, which, almost concealing all his features, rendered
him a hideous spectacle. Even the troopers, though sufficiently
indignant at the very name of rebel, either respected the singular
boldness of his defence, or stood silenced by the appalling nature of
the sight. All hope of obtaining any information from him was given up;
he was evidently insensible, and all that I could do was done, in
placing him in the care of the medical practitioner in attendance on the
Household, and ordering that he should have every accommodation
consistent with his safe-keeping for the time.

I returned to my chamber, and was again lost in the outpourings of a pen
which had all the candour of a dying confession. Clotilde was again
murmuring in my ear those solemn thoughts, which she believed that she
was writing only to be trampled in the mazes of a French forest. Her
last words were--

"Marston, Marston, we shall never meet again! In my days of
wretchedness, I have sometimes wept over the resolution by which I tore
myself away from you. But every calmer thought has strengthened me in
the consciousness, that I could give no higher proof of the honour, the
homage, the fond and fervent affection, of my soul. I dared not be a
burden on your tenderness, or an obstacle to your natural distinction.
What could I, helpless, houseless, fortuneless, be but a weight upon
that buoyancy and ambition of eminence which marks superior natures for
the superior honours of life. I relinquished the first object of my
heart, and in that act I still take a melancholy pride. I showed you of
what sacrifices I am capable for your sake. But what sacrifice is too
vast for the heart of woman? Farewell! you will never see me more.

"CLOTILDE DE TOURVILLE."

During that night I found it impossible to rest; I continued alternately
reading those fragments, walking up and down my chamber, and gazing on
the skies. The cavalry torches still illumined the Castle-squa