he
mud walls, and the thatch loaded on every individual straw with heavy
flakes of soot. At the desire of Aubrey they searched for her who had
attracted him by her cries; he was again left in darkness; but what
was his horror, when the light of the torches once more burst upon
him, to perceive the airy form of his fair conductress brought in a
lifeless corse. He shut his eyes, hoping that it was but a vision
arising from his disturbed imagination; but he again saw the same
form, when he unclosed them, stretched by his side. There was no
colour upon her cheek, not even upon her lip; yet there was a
stillness about her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life
that once dwelt there:--upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon
her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein:--to this
the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, "A
Vampyre! a Vampyre!" A litter was quickly formed, and Aubrey was laid
by the side of her who had lately been to him the object of so many
bright and fairy visions, now fallen with the flower of life that had
died within her. He knew not what his thoughts were--his mind was
benumbed and seemed to shun reflection, and take refuge in
vacancy--he held almost unconsciously in his hand a naked dagger of a
particular construction, which had been found in the hut. They were
soon met by different parties who had been engaged in the search of
her whom a mother had missed. Their lamentable cries, as they
approached the city, forewarned the parents of some dreadful
catastrophe. --To describe their grief would be impossible; but when
they ascertained the cause of their child's death, they looked at
Aubrey, and pointed to the corse. They were inconsolable; both died
broken-hearted.

Aubrey being put to bed was seized with a most violent fever, and was
often delirious; in these intervals he would call upon Lord Ruthven
and upon Ianthe--by some unaccountable combination he seemed to beg
of his former companion to spare the being he loved. At other times he
would imprecate maledictions upon his head, and curse him as her
destroyer. Lord Ruthven, chanced at this time to arrive at Athens,
and, from whatever motive, upon hearing of the state of Aubrey,
immediately placed himself in the same house, and became his constant
attendant. When the latter recovered from his delirium, he was
horrified and startled at the sight of him whose image he had now
combined with that of a Vampyre;