or blows, like a tame spaniel! I have thee in my power, and were
not the natural bent of thy dispositions kind and noblehearted, yet sore
beset, and, as it were, overwhelmed by thy curst humours, I had now cast
my spells about thee--ay, stricken thee to the dust! Shake off these
bonds that enthral thy better spirit, and let not that beautiful fabric
play the hypocrite any longer. Why should so fair a temple be the
dwelling of a demon?"

A deep sob here told that kindlier feelings were at work; that nature
was beginning to assert her prerogative, and that the common sympathies,
the tender attributes, of woman were not extinguished.

The struggle was short, but severe. With difficulty she repressed the
outburst of her grief as she spoke.

"A woman still! 'Tis the garb nature put on. I have wrapped a sterner
garment about me." A long and bitter sob here betrayed the violent
warfare within. It was but for a moment. Affecting contempt for her own
weakness, she exclaimed--

"Throw it off? Expose me defenceless to his proud contumely? Even now
the cold glance of indifference hath pierced it through!"

Here she arose proudly.

"And what thinkest thou, if I were to stand unarmed, uncovered, before
his unfeeling gaze?"

"He loves thee," hastily rejoined the seer.

"Me!--as soon that bauble learn to love as"----

"Say but one word, and I will bow him at thy feet."

"'Tis well thou mockest me thus. To worm out my secret, perchance.--For
this didst thou crave my presence? Let me be gone!"

"Thou shalt say 'Yes,' Kate, ere thou depart!"

The curtain which divided the apartment suddenly flew aside. The
astonished lover beheld his mistress:--not the unreal phantom he had
imagined, but a being substantial in quality, and of a nature like his
own, though gentler than his fondest anticipations.

The seer departed: but in the end the lovers were not displeased at
being betrayed into a mutual expression of their regard.

The operation of the heavenly influences was, in these days, a doctrine
that obtained almost universal credit; and it would have been looked
upon as a daring piece of presumption to baffle the prophetic
signification of the stars.

On that same night, being the eve of St Bartholomew, they were
married:--thus adding one more to the numerous instances on record,
where a belief in the prediction has been the means of its
accomplishment.

The remainder of Kate's history, and how she crossed the sea,
accompa