was going to say, of a murderer!"

Amelie, with a wild desperation, gathered up the gay robes and garlands
and threw them in a heap in the corner of the chamber. "My glory is
departed!" said she. "Oh, Hortense, I am punished for the pride I took
in them! Yet it was not for myself, but for the sake of him, I took
pride in them! Bestow them, I pray you, upon some more happy girl, who
is poor in fortune, but rich in love, who will wear them at her bridal,
instead of the unhappy Amelie."

The group of girls beheld her, while their eyes were swimming with
tears. "I have long, long kept a bridal veil in my closet," she went
on, "and knew not it was to be mine!" Opening a wardrobe, she took out a
long black veil. It had belonged to her grandaunt, the nun, Madelaine de
Repentigny, and was kept as an heirloom in her family.

"This," said she, "shall be mine till death! Embrace me, O my sisters,
my bridesmaids and companions. I go now to the Ursulines to kneel at the
door and crave admittance to pass a life of penitence for Le Gardeur,
and of prayer for my beloved Pierre."

"O Amelie, think what you do!" exclaimed Hortense Beauharnais; "be not
hasty, take not a step that cannot be recalled. It will kill Pierre!"

"Alas! I have killed him already!" said she; "but my mind is made up!
Dear Hortense, I love Pierre, but oh, I could never look at his face
again without shame that would burn like guilt. I give myself henceforth
to Christ, not for my own sake, but for his, and for my unhappy
brother's! Do not hinder me, dear friends, and do not follow me! May you
all be happy in your happiness, and pray for poor Amelie, whom fate
has stricken so hard and so cruelly in the very moment of her brightest
hopes! And now let me go--alone--and God bless you all! Bid my aunt to
come and see me," added she; "I cannot even wait her return."

The girls stood weeping around her, and kissed and embraced her over and
over. They would not disobey her request to be allowed to go alone to
the Convent, but as she turned to depart, she was clasped around the
neck by Heloise de Lotbiniere, exclaiming that she should not go alone,
that the light of the world had gone out for her as well as for Amelie,
and she would go with her.

"But why, Heloise, would you go with me to the Convent?" asked Amelie,
sadly. She knew but too well why.

"Oh, my cousin! I too would pray for Le Gardeur! I too--but no matter! I
will go with you, Amelie! If the door of the U