ificial excitement, and her gaiety seemed unimpaired; but, when
alone with me, the constant companion of her solitary hours, and the
sole confidant of her thoughts, she yielded to the most alarming
depression. Her health evidently suffered from this disordered state of
mind; but she uttered no complaint, and from her husband, particularly,
concealed every symptom of illness, and appeared with her accustomed
cheerfulness. Strange as it may seem, her gaiety chagrined him; he
fancied her trifling with, or indifferent to, his happiness, and
satisfied with the pleasures which courted her, without a wish for his
participation. He little knew,--for his better feelings were warped by a
morbid imagination,--how gladly she would have exchanged every other
blessing for one assurance of returning confidence and affection.

"Your mother's spirits faintly revived, on the approach of spring. She
was weary of dissipation: the glittering bubble, which at first charmed
her eye, had burst, and betrayed its emptiness. She had a mind which
panted for the noblest attainments, a heart formed for the enjoyment of
every pure and rational pursuit. Her thoughts continually reverted to
the first happy months of her union with De Courcy; and she impatiently
anticipated the moment, when they should return to those quiet scenes;
fondly believing that she might there recover her husband's love, and
that a new and most endearing tie would bind him more strongly to her.
These soothing hopes beguiled many an heavy hour; and, but for one fatal
error, one deadly passion, they might have been fully realized!"

Madame de la Tour abruptly stopped, overcome by the painful
recollections which crowded on her mind; Lucie looked at her with
tearful eyes, but offered no remark; and both remained silent for
several minutes.

CHAPTER XX.

What deep wounds ever closed without a scar
The heart's bleed longest, and but heal to wear
That which disfigures it; and they who war
With their own hopes, and have been vanquish'd, bear
Silence, but not submission.

LORD BYRON.

Madame de la Tour at length proceeded:--"I have already told you, Lucie,
that De Courcy viewed, with uneasiness, the homage which was paid your
mother, though it did not exceed the usual devotion which Parisian
gallantry is wont to offer at the shrine of female loveliness. He must
have expected it; for no one could have been more conscious of her
beauty, or more