ing thoughts left
him no leisure to mourn over his deceased friend. It was the kind of
death that De Neufville had chosen which occupied his mind.

"He came to his death by his own hand; he did not wish to survive his
disgrace. He has done right--for when disgrace begins, life ends--and
shall I live," asked he aloud, as almost angrily he threw his head
back, "an existence without honor, an existence of ignominy and
misery? I repeat it, De Neufville has done right. Well, then, I dare
not do wrong; my friend has shown me the way. Shall I follow him? Let
me consider it."

He cast a wild, searching look around the room, as if he feared
some eye might be looking at him, and read desperate thoughts in
the quivering of his face. "Yes! I will consider it," whispered he,
uneasily. "But not here--there in my cabinet, where every thing is
so silent and solitary, no one will disturb me. I will think of it,
I say." And with a dismal smile he hurried into his study, and closed
the door behind him.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIV.

ELISE.

The bridal costume was completed, and with a bright face, smiling and
weeping for sheer happiness, Elise stood looking at herself in a large
Venetian mirror. Not from vanity, nor to enjoy the contemplation of
her beauty, but to convince herself that all this was not a dream,
only truth, delightful truth. The maiden, with blushing cheeks, stood
and looked in the glass, in her white dress, till she smiled back
again; so like a bride, that she shouted aloud for joy, kissed her
hand to herself, in the fulness of her mirth, as she greeted and
smiled again to her image in the mirror. "I salute you, happy bride!"
said she, in the exuberance of her joy. "I see in your eyes that you
are happy, and so may God bless you! Go forth into the world and teach
it by your example, that for a woman there is no happiness but love,
no bliss but that of resting in the arms of her lover. But am I
not too simply clad?" cried she, interrupting herself suddenly, and
examining herself critically in the glass. "Yes, indeed, that simple,
silly child is not worthy of such a handsome and splendid cavalier:
a white silk dress and nothing else! How thoughtless and foolish has
happiness made me! My Heaven! I forgot that he comes from the land
of diamonds, and that he is a prince. Oh! I will adorn myself for my
prince." And she took from her desk the costly set of diamonds, the
legacy of her