hem; "I cannot endure the sight. They will kill me--ay, worse than
kill--tear my heart-strings with slow agony. Ah! dear Mrs.
Headley--Mrs. Elmsley--both of you, who loved Maria so well--can
you not understand the pangs I suffer! Yesterday I could have defied
the world in the vain pride of my happiness and strength; to-day
I feel that I am more wretched than the slave that tugs at his
chain--more feeble than a child. Would to heaven that I could die
within this hour! Oh, God! oh, God! oh, God! how shall I endure
this!"

He turned on his side, buried his face in the pillow, and sobbed
and wept, until every one around had caught the deep infection of
his profound suffering. The lips of Corporal Collins, as he stood
stiff in his military attitude, were closely compressed, and his
brow was contracted. A sympathy, traceable on each quivering muscle,
was evidently struggling for mastery, and he turned abruptly round.
Had others taken time from their own sorrow to watch his next
movement, they might have seen him raise his hand to his lips, and
drain deeply from a flask he had taken from the bosom of his uniform.
Mrs. Elmsley, with her face buried in her hands, leaned against
one of the foot-posts of the bed; and Mrs. Headley--the majestic
Mrs. Headley, with more complex feelings at her heart than actuated
the others--knelt at the head of the bed, laid her hand upon the
shoulder of the patient, and conjured him, in tones that marked
her own deep sorrow, to bear the trial like a man, and not destroy
himself by unavailing grief. Yet, even as she spoke, the tears fell
copiously upon the bed.

"Mrs. Headley," said Von Voltenberg, who afterwards admitted that,
in the whole course of his practice, he had never been similarly
touched, "do not check him. Let him give full vent to this emotion,
for painful as it now is, both to himself and to us who witness
it, this outburst once exhausted, the crisis once past, there will
be less fear of a return. See, already the paroxysm is weaker--he
is more calm--both mind and body are worn out, and if he can but
sleep for a few hours, although he may perhaps awaken to more acute
sorrow, no danger to his life need be apprehended."

Notwithstanding this remark was made in little more than a whisper,
it was distinctly heard by the sufferer. Suddenly starting up again
in his bed, he turned quickly round to the surgeon, and said, in
a tone of reproach--

"And is this all the consolation you have