she would, to the casual observer,
have indicated hardly the half of that age. Her figure was tall and
dignified, yet mobile as a willow; her eyes were dark and luminous, and,
in their profound depths, slept a world of melancholy meaning. Her hair
was simply parted on a broad forehead, and was gathered in heavy masses
low on the neck. Her lips were full and red, and, when parted, exhibited
teeth of dazzling whiteness, while her complexion, which was very dark,
was yet clear and pure as the hue of the magnolia's petal. But that face
was pale, very pale, almost as colorless as that of the quiet sleeper at
its side, and upon it rested an expression of love unutterable, mingled
with the sadness of death.

Such was the unknown nurse, the Countess de Morcerf, as she again was an
inmate of that apartment of which she had once, under circumstances how
different, been mistress; such was Mercedes, the Catalane of Marseilles,
again at the side of the man whom all her life she had loved, with none
to gainsay or forbid!

Upon that pale and motionless countenance she gazed long and deeply,
and, oh! the world of memory that passed through her mind!--the world
of thought and feeling that centred in that fixed gaze! At length,
clasping her hands upon her forehead, her eyes streaming with tears, she
bowed her face upon the bed, from which she had just raised it, and long
seemed absorbed in prayer.

Roused from this position by some movement of the slumberer, she started
up and watched him.

The shaded rays of the dim and distant lamp threw a faint glimmering of
light upon the pale countenance, but the quick eye of love
instantaneously detected a change. A slight flush was mounting the
cheek, and gentle perspiration was distilling upon the brow, while a
smile played on the mouth. Suddenly, as she gazed, those pallid lips
moved. Astonished, she listened.

"Marseilles! beautiful Marseilles!" said the sleeper. "Home of my
boyhood, home of my heart. I come!" Then quickly and sternly came the
order, "Let go the anchor--furl the sails--mate, take charge of the
ship!" Then the tones changed, and a joyful light shot over the face as
the lips exclaimed, "Now for my father! now for my love! Mercedes!
Mercedes!"

Amazed, the fair watcher retained her position, and gazed and listened
so silently and breathlessly that the quick and audible beatings of her
heart might have been numbered.

"Mine--mine at last!" continued the dreamer. "The marri