the rail. She stood on that extreme verge, so
fearful and abrupt that it might have rendered dizzy a stouter head
than her own.

"This night are we married, Mortimer. The _ring_ and the _cliff_!"

The ring at this moment shot forth a tremulous brightness; probably
from participation with the glowing hues by which it was surrounded.

"The genii of that ring--said he not so?--they will bear me to him.
Our couch is decked, and the bridal hymn----Hark!"

It was only the sound from some passing skiff that crept along the
waters, but Adeline thought she heard the voice of her lover.

"He calls me; when will he return?"

She looked anxiously on the ring, as though expecting a reply; but she
saw its bright hues diminish, and gradually grow dim in the dull grey
light which displaced the gaudy sunset.

"Oh, why art thou gone so soon?" Her heart seemed full, as though in
the very agony of separation.

"I must away. His bark is on the deep; and he will not return."

She buried her head in her lap, and wept. But suddenly she started up;
she looked on the distant wave as though she beheld some object
approaching. She again climbed upon the rail, and gazed eagerly
through the twilight on the billows, now foaming back in triumph with
the returning tide. Her features were yet beautiful, though wasted by
disease; and as she gazed, a smile, rapturous and bright, passed over,
like a sunbeam on the dark billows. She waved her hand.

"I have waited for thee. Bear me hence. Haste! Oh, haste! They are
here."

She listened. Her countenance grew more pale and agitated. Voices were
heard, and footsteps evidently approaching. She recognised the hated
sound of her pursuers. Agony and despair were thy last ministers,
unhappy victim! She wrapped her cloak closer to her form, and, with
one wild and appalling shriek, leaped that dizzy height, by the foot
of which her mangled remains were shortly discovered.

* * * * *

In the family of ---- is a ring, taken from the finger of a female
ancestor of the house who leaped from "_The Lady's Cliff_,"--for such
it continues to be called; and it is still said to be haunted by her
spirit. The ring was found uninjured, save by a crack through the rim,
where it seems bent by a sudden stroke. Superstition attaches strange
stories to this relic. True enough, at times it appears almost gifted
with intelligence; though perhaps the answer, intimated by the
brilliancy or di