l."

"Yes," replied the old man, sadly. "A twelvemonth since, I heard the
same sounds in the same house. There was music and feasting--it was,
as now, a wedding festival. Where is the bride? Go to yonder
churchyard. You will find her name inscribed on a simple stone. If you
pass out of the city to the north, you will see some huge buildings of
brick, towering upon an eminence. If you linger by the garden wall you
will hear shrieks and curses, the howls of despair, the ravings of
hopeless lunacy. The husband is there--the victim of his own evil
passions--a raving maniac."

"Away with these croaking reminiscences!" cried the younger voice.
"Let the music peal--let the dance go on. The wine is red within the
cup."

"Yes--and the deadly serpent lurks below."

"Then the world is all desolate!" cried the New Year.

"No! there are green spots in the desert!" said the Old Year; "but
beware of deeming it all fairyland! But a little while and you will
follow me. But the end is not here--after Time, Eternity! There
suffering and sin are unknown. There each departed spirit, after
making the circuit of its appointed sphere, shall rise to a higher and
a higher, while boundless love and wisdom illuminate all, radiating
from a centre whose brightness no human senses can conceive."

The old man was gone. The joyous bells had rung his requiem. The young
heir was enthroned--and with mingled hope and foreboding commenced the
reign of 1853.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage,
and Other Tales, by Francis A. Durivage

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