ored, he wandered among the places
endeared to him by memories of Virginia. His eyes grew hollow, his
colour faded, his health gradually but visibly declined. I strove to
mitigate his feelings by giving him change of scene, by taking him to
the busy inhabited parts of the island. My efforts proving quite
ineffectual, I tried to console him by reminding him that Virginia had
gained eternal happiness.

"Since death is a blessing, and Virginia is happy," he replied
mournfully, "I will die, also, that I may again be united to her."

Thus, the consolation I sought to administer only aggravated his
despair.

Paul died two months after his beloved Virginia, whose name was ever on
his lips to the last. Margaret survived her son only by a week, and
Madame de la Tour, who had borne all her terrible losses with a
greatness of soul beyond belief, lived but another month.

By the side of Virginia, at the foot of the bamboos near the church of
Pamplemousses, Paul was laid to rest. Close at hand the two mothers were
buried. No marble is raised over their humble graves, no inscriptions
record their virtues, but in the hearts of those who loved them, they
have left a memory that time can never efface.

With these words the old man, tears flowing from his eyes, arose and
went away.

* * * * *

GEORGE SAND

Consuelo

The life of the great French novelist, George Sand, is as
romantic as any of the characters in her novels. She was born
at Paris in July, 1804, her real name being Armandine Lucile
Aurore Dupin. At eighteen she married the son of a colonel and
baron of the empire, by name Dudevant, but after nine years
she separated from her husband, and, bent upon a literary
career, made her way to Paris. Success came quickly. Entering
into a literary partnership with her masculine friend, Jules
Sandeau, the chief fruit of their joint enterprise was "Rose
et Blanche." This was followed by her independent novel,
"Indiana," a story that brought her the enthusiastic praises
of the reading public, and the warm friendship of the most
distinguished personages in French literary society. A few
years later her relations with the poet Alfred De Musset
provided the matter for what is now an historic episode. Her
literary output was enormous, consisting of a hundred or more
volumes of novels and stories, four volume