the pain of
uttering that one word, and that the meeting will never be. Should
possibilities be worse to bear than certainties? We do not shun our
dying friends; the not having distinctly taken leave of one among them,
whom we left in all kindness and affection, will often embitter the
whole remainder of a life.

The town was glad with morning light; places that had shown ugly and
distrustful all night long, now wore a smile; and sparkling sunbeams
dancing on chamber windows, and twinkling through blind and curtain
before sleepers' eyes, shed light even into dreams, and chased away the
shadows of the night. Birds in hot rooms, covered up close and dark,
felt it was morning, and chafed and grew restless in their little
cells; bright-eyed mice crept back to their tiny homes and nestled
timidly together; the sleek house-cat, forgetful of her prey, sat
winking at the rays of sun starting through keyhole and cranny in the
door, and longed for her stealthy run and warm sleek bask outside. The
nobler beasts confined in dens, stood motionless behind their bars and
gazed on fluttering boughs, and sunshine peeping through some little
window, with eyes in which old forests gleamed--then trod impatiently
the track their prisoned feet had worn--and stopped and gazed again.
Men in their dungeons stretched their cramp cold limbs and cursed the
stone that no bright sky could warm. The flowers that sleep by night,
opened their gentle eyes and turned them to the day. The light,
creation's mind, was everywhere, and all things owned its power.

The two pilgrims, often pressing each other's hands, or exchanging a
smile or cheerful look, pursued their way in silence. Bright and happy
as it was, there was something solemn in the long, deserted streets,
from which, like bodies without souls, all habitual character and
expression had departed, leaving but one dead uniform repose, that made
them all alike. All was so still at that early hour, that the few pale
people whom they met seemed as much unsuited to the scene, as the
sickly lamp which had been here and there left burning, was powerless
and faint in the full glory of the sun.

Before they had penetrated very far into the labyrinth of men's abodes
which yet lay between them and the outskirts, this aspect began to melt
away, and noise and bustle to usurp its place. Some straggling carts
and coaches rumbling by, first broke the charm, then others came, then
others yet more active