ir mother moon,
Thy gentle soul will soar to dwell
In visions with mine own;
As skies distil
The dews that fill
The blushing rose at even,
So blest above,
I'll mourn thy love
And weep for thee in heaven."

It needed not the well-known voice of Hansford to assure the weeping
girl that he was near her. The burden of that sad song, which found an
echo in her own heart, told her too plainly that it could be only he. It
was no time for delicate scruples of propriety. She only knew that he
was near her and in danger. Rising from her chair, and throwing around
her a shawl to protect her from the chill night air, she hastened to the
door. In another moment they were in each other's arms.

"Oh, my own Virginia," said Hansford, "this is too, too kind. I had only
thought to come and breathe a last farewell, and then steal from your
presence for ever. I felt that it was a privilege to be near you, to
watch, unseen, the flickering light reflected from your presence. This
itself had been reward sufficient for the peril I encounter. How sweet
then to hear once more the accents of your voice, and to feel once more
the warm beating of your faithful heart."

"And could you think," said Virginia, as she wept upon his shoulder,
"that knowing you to be in danger, I could fail to see you. Oh,
Hansford! you little know the truth of woman's love if you can for a
moment doubt that your misfortune and your peril have made you doubly
dear."

"Yet how brief must be my stay. The avenger is behind me, and I must
soon resume my lonely wandering."

"And will you again leave me?" asked Virginia, in a reproachful tone.

"Leave you, dearest, oh, how sweet would be my fate, after all my cares
and sufferings, if I could but die here. But this must not be. Though I
trust I know how to meet death as a brave man, yet it is my duty, as a
good man, to leave no honourable means untried to save my life."

"But your danger cannot be so great, dearest," said Virginia, tenderly.
"Surely my father--"

"Would feel it his duty," said Hansford, interrupting her, "to deliver
me up to justice; and feeling it to be such, he would have the moral
firmness to discharge it. Poor old gentleman! like many of his party,
his prejudice perverts his true and generous heart. My poor country must
suffer long before she can overcome the opposition of bigoted loyalty.
Forgive me for speaking thus of your noble fa