rage. When, however, I
saw him pale and sombre, leaning against the door of the temple, I felt
the coldness of death take possession of me, and I doubted long after
that sad day, if I had seen a shadow, if some hallucinations of my
senses had not evoked a phantom of my vanished love, to inspire me with
eternal regret. Yet HE it was! HE it was! and when at the risk of my
very life I would have flown towards that man, I was forced to follow
another." The poor woman paused; for a mist obscured her sight, a
distillation of burning tears. She resumed her task:--"I am a Duchess
but of what value is that vain title which I sought, as an aegis against
memory, to me? Have I found it such? For a long time, I thought so. I
should, however, never have seen him again. I should have passed no
happy days near him, and have been ignorant of the delirium and
intoxication of his presence, which I never can forget. I had been the
wife of the Duke of Palma six months, when a mission of the King of
Naples forced him to leave me at a villa on the _Lago di Como_, while he
went in a foreign country to discharge the duties his monarch had
imposed on him. I scarcely dared to confess to myself, in spite of the
kindness of the Duke, how I was delighted during his absence, for it
gave me a liberty of mind and thought which was absolutely necessary to
my heart. Resolved to discharge all my duties, I lived, or rather
vegetated, in this existence, so unoccupied and objectless as all
marriages contracted without love must be. Amid, however, the dead calm
of a marriage contracted without love, there glittered sometimes a burst
of passion repressed, but alas! not stifled. Dark passions filled my
bosom, and I felt the poison of regret. I found myself often longing for
my independence, which, however, would not have contributed to my
happiness, but would at least have permitted me to indulge in my secret
sorrow. My temporary solitude, therefore, became precious to me, for I
was about to abandon myself to sadness without annoying any one, and
without exciting a curiosity which it was impossible for me to satisfy.
When one evening I had been wandering alone on the banks of the lake, I
was terrified by a terrible scene on the water. At a great distance a
man made every effort to approach the shore--for his boat was evidently
sinking beneath him. Some opening, beyond doubt, permitted the water to
penetrate, and his danger became every moment more imminent. I was