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voices on the terrace below, an unusual would probably die without one word of running up-stairs and through the rooms, forgiveness and reconciliation.

up.

In the despair of his heart he called her by name with the tenderest caresses; but these, no more than the restoratives applied by the housekeeper, could wake Celine.

and at last the calling out of his name
brought him to his senses, and he sprang
His housekeeper stood before him.
A glance at her pale face told him suffi-
cient to produce in him a cold shudder from her stupor.
from head to foot.

66

living.

There she lay, motionless, as if dead, a "Has anything happened to my wife?" painful expression on her marble-white he stammered out with a voice almost face, which seemed yet paler in contrast soundless, and hollow, bewildered eyes. with the dishevelled black locks which lay The housekeeper nodded assent, being spread over the pillow-beautiful as a picalmost without the power of speaking. ture even in this moment of unconsciousWhen Otto wished to pass by her, she ness bordering on death, and scarcely held him back. showing by her faint, almost imperceptible They are bringing her in," she whis- breathing that she still belonged to the pered; "a bed has been prepared in the room below. For Heaven's sake be calm." A painful half-hour passed without A few moments later, Otto went with tot- bringing any change. The messenger tering steps to meet the laborers who were came back from Dilburg breathless, folcarrying his wife towards the house care- lowed immediately by the doctor's carriage, fully on a mattress. They had taken her which the longing eyes of the housekeeper up for dead below on the dyke, which in had seen coming along the approach. At her wild flight she had tried to ride up by the same moment that she left the room to a rough path. At the last steep part of it meet the doctor and to give the necessary the horse had slipped down, and, falling directions, the door was burst open viowith its rider over and over, had at last lently, and the dog Cæsar, who had got come down with its whole weight upon her loose from the stable, sprang yelping into body. the room. With a second spring the faithShe rested in Otto's arms as motionless ful animal was by the bed of its mistress; and cold as a corpse, when he took her before Otto could hinder him he had from the mattress, carried her into the placed his fore feet on the pillow, and house, and placed her upon the bed licked her pale face with a mournful howl. already prepared for her. She opened her eyes for an instant, and A great confusion followed. Servants whilst they rested on her beloved dog, a ran here and there; inquisitive persons faint smile played on her lips. She tried came up to the house; messengers were to lift up her hand to stroke him, but a sent in all directions to obtain medical as- painful cry escaped her even at the slight sistance; and meanwhile the despairing movement. husband knelt by the apparently lifeless Again she closed her eyes, and again body of his wife, covered her cold hands unconsciousness seemed to hold fast her with kisses, whilst hot, bitter tears sprang senses, when Otto's voice-his despairing from his eyes-forgetting all that had prayer for one word, one look of forgivepassed, and insensible to everything but ness before she left him-seemed once the torturing consciousness that the wife more to call her back to life. whom he once so passionately loved had

Whilst already the pallor of her cheek parted from him in dispute and anger, and was changing into the hue of death, she

once more raised her great dark eyes on dread at the return of daylight; a longing her husband with an indescribable look, so to sink back again into the sweet forgetfulsoft, so loving and imploring, a look that ness of sleep-sleep, which had fled at the spoke more than all words could have said first sign of pain? The hours go by; the -forgiving and asking for forgiveness. business of the day demands our attenOtto's emotion was too great to admit of tion; the sun shines as clearly, the birds his uttering a word. He bent low over sing as merrily, the sky is as blue and unCeline, and the kiss which he gave her clouded, and the world follows its course lips, which were already stiffening, was whether we have joyful or bleeding hearts; answered; they might perhaps be said to on and on without sympathy or pity for be the first kisses of mutual, true, and real us! . . love.

The first and the last.

At that instant the report of a gun fired in the immediate vicinity of the house came through the room.

As if aroused by an electric shock, the dying wife sat up straight, and whilst her eyes opened wide, her lips whispered the hardly intelligible words, "Poor Schimmel!" and she sank back a corpse.

Such an awaking had Emmy Welters on the morning of which I write. The excitement of the previous evening and of the night had subsided, and with it the impression of the words which seemed as if they had been spoken in a dream, and a blank dejection was almost the only feeling of which she was conscious.

She felt, however, more than on the previous evening, the grievous reality of What Celine had in her last moment her trouble, and still more the bitterness instinctively comprehended was true; the which was the principal feature of her sorshot that she heard released from suffering row.

- her favorite horse, which had been brought home with one of its fore-legs broken.

CHAPTER XIX.

SORROW AND CONSOLATION.

In proportion as her confidence in Bruno had been unbounded, was the severity of the shock which his unfaithfulness caused her. It was not a sorrow which could find relief in tears or complaints, but a sorrow which, with its sharp tooth, gnawed at her I MUST return to Emmy, going back to heart, and made it hard and incapable of her from the week which witnessed the any softer emotion. Till to-day the thought events at Beckley just related. We left had never come into Emmy's heart that her on the morning after the day on which she had sacrificed anything for Bruno, that she received the terrible shock of learning there was any merit in her love and faith, Bruno's inconstancy. or in her power of endurance in spite of opposition and separation.

Who does not know the sensation with which one awakes during a deep sorrow, Had not the sense of reciprocal love supthe faint consciousness of something terri-ported her, and rendered it impossible for ble which presses upon the heart, and her to give way?

which, on first opening the eyes, slowly But now that the love on Bruno's side acquires form and shape, and stands before the bed like a frowning spectre in the clear • daylight?

had fallen away, the long account which made Bruno her debtor stood forth in burning characters before her mind, the Who does not know the hopeless feeling account in which ingratitude was added to that makes one press one's head deeper the score of inconstancy.

into the pillow with a sense of shrinking And when she thought how short a time

it had taken Bruno to forget her; how, hung heavy as lead upon her. To read knowing with what a longing she would was as impossible as to fix her mind on any look for his letters, he had not even made studies; and needlework, that reviving her acquainted with the truth: when she cordial for sorrowful meditation, was a thought that his love and tenderness, which torment to her, as it involved sitting still, she had made the greatest treasure of her and that, in her present restless frame of heart, were now dedicated to another mind, was equally impossible. Thus, in woman—when Emmy meditated on all these first sad days, the presence of little this, and could not drive away these Seyna was quite a relief to her. thoughts for a single hour-nay, for a single She passed the whole day either in her moment, then no tears flowed from her own room or in the garden with the child, burning eyes, no sighs of sorrow escaped whose merry chatter, whilst she occupied from her breast, and she sat down in a state of utter despondency which seemed to banish all hope of happiness in the future.

herself with teaching Seyna a little, under pretext of play, diverted Emmy's thoughts, and sustained her as nothing else could have done at this time. And what was Sometimes she hated herself for not begun out of simple inclination was conbeing able to control her thoughts, or to tinued out of warm affection, which was prevent herself from placing Bruno before stimulated by the attachment of the child her eyes with the honorable, open-hearted to herself. look which lived in her recollection;

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The father, Siword Hiddema, was often

"Cousin Emmy" was always on Seyna's sometimes she felt herself to be wicked and lips. She followed Emmy about the house unwomanly, when, at the simple thought like a little dog, and though her wilful litof Christian forgiveness, a rebellious spirit tle self would not mind what any one else broke forth in her which overpowered all said to her, she gave way at a single word gentler emotions, and made her lips refuse from Emmy, just as at a look from her to express a wish for the happiness of him father. who had rendered her so miserable. And who will condemn my poor the subject of Emmy's thoughts in conheroine? nection with his little daughter. How I know that there are individuals whose cold, how strict, how hard he was somegoodness is so unbounded, that even upon times towards Seyna; but nevertheless a discovery like that of Emmy's they would Emmy was quite aware that the child was at once speak the word of forgiveness, not the object of his idolatrous love. Had she only with the lips, but with the heart; but not seen him turn pale when the child had I know likewise that one must be almost an angel, or a being entirely without character, to be able to do this without a violent struggle. Emmy was, however, neither the one nor natural impulse? the other.

any little accidental fall, and yet scolding her when, on taking her up, he found her unhurt, instead of kissing and petting her, which would have been Emmy's own

And how dear, how very dear, was the Emmy would have looked upon it as a father to the child! How she colored with boon had any household duties been joy at an approving word from his lips. assigned to her, which would have forced What greater pleasure could she have than her to work and exert herself, and thus to stand by his knee, with her hand upon have afforded her some distraction. The his arm, or to be taken by him for a walk time, which she knew not how to employ, or a visit? Evidently spoiled, and not

accustomed to obey others, the very appear- self there altogether; not as yet in the

ance of opposition vanished in Seyna at the sound of his voice; but to pour out her little heart to him, to fall upon his neck in a transport of joy over any little pleasure, as she did with Emmy, that she never did with her father.

château itself, but in a lodging in the village; while it was hardly ten days after the first arrival of Cousin Siword in Dilburg, that the terrible misfortune, already known to us, occurred at Beckley; and Emmy, in the very same hour that the news of Celine's Was this coldness of heart in Siword death reached the family, left her home, real or only apparent? Did there lie and took up her abode with her miserable under that unvarying mask of calmness brother. Sorrowful as the occasion was, and composure, warmth of feeling or cold and much as Emmy was shocked by the indifference? Had a youth passed without sudden news of Celine's death, there was father and mother, and among strangers, yet something in these events which operasuppressed the evidence of warm feelings, ted favorably on her state of mind, revi·d or the warm feelings themselves? These her interest in life, and aroused her faculwere riddles which Emmy tried in vain to ties from the temporary stupor into which solve. they had fallen.

Her interest in the child, who nestled in her affections more and more every day, made her watch Siword with special

attention.

Would the warm heart of the little girl be chilled by his coldness, or would his melt under the warmth which glowed from hers? But if Siword's hidden thoughts and aspirations were a riddle to Emmy, the key to its solution was not easily found by any

one.

Siword Hiddema talked much and agreeably; his company was a great addition to any society, and there were few men who so seldom spoke of themselves as he did.

The thought that it was now her duty to support Otto, and to comfort him as far as human power could do so; to repress her own grief and feelings, in order to share more heartily in the great sorrow that had come upon her brother; to put her own self aside, and to live and care for another; this it was which brought into activity her generous impulses, and delivered Emmy from a selfish apathy, which sometimes springs even in a noble heart from trials such as she had experienced. And it was no easy task which devolved upon her.

When Emmy came to Otto, she found him, as it were, stunned and paralyzed by grief beside Celine's body, which he reHe was communicative enough about fused to leave till the day when her earthly his plans for the future; but of his past life, remains were to be consigned to the grave. of his feelings and sensations, he never But he was not in a condition to pay this spoke, and there was something about him last honor to his wife. Sick in body and that involuntarily kept back every one mind, hardly able to hold out in his wish from addressing him on subjects which he to remain with her till the last moment, he did not seem to wish to bring forward. fell down insensible as he was trying to Emmy did not, however, see much of walk to the carriage which was waiting for him. The purchase of Sollingen, which him.

had been completed according to his wish, Then came difficult days for Emmy, gave occasion for many journeys to and which extended themselves into weeks. fro; and as these had to be arranged so as to Otto's condition could not exactly be called enable him to go and return the same day, illness; it consisted in a sort of utter prosit naturally ended in his establishing him-tration, in which he could do nothing but

lie on the sofa for hours without moving, wishing to be alone, they had mostly and, as Emmy sometimes thought, almost stayed away, and Beckley was more quiet without consciousness. and solitary than ever. The solitude and

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He could endure no one near him except stillness, as if the house were deserted, Emmy. He obeyed her when she pressed began to oppress Emmy by its long durahim to take any food or to go to bed; but tion, and made her welcome with real his powers of mind seemed to be unequal pleasure not only Siword, but the change to any exertion or to business, and it which his arrival might produce. pained Emmy much to see him so changed, so emaciated, so aged, without her being able to devise anything which could awaken in him a new interest in life.

She sat by him from morning till night. With unfailing courage she tried every day afresh to excite his attention in all sorts of ways, and to rouse his interest, constantly hoping and trusting that her efforts, unsuccessful to-day, would be crowned with success on the morrow.

One day, when Otto had fallen asleep after dinner, Emmy took advantage of the short interval of rest to walk up and down the terrace.

She had seldom of late gone out of doors, and the soft summer air of a July afternoon, and the south wind which played through her hair and cooled her forehead, gave her an indescribable sense of well-being. She had not been there many minutes, when footsteps on the gravel walk between the gate and the terrace made her look up, and she went to meet Siword Hiddema with a friendly greeting.

"How are you going on here, Emmy?" "Alas! always the same. Otto will see no one; he continues dull and listless, and as yet time seems to have brought no alleviation to his grief."

"This must not go on," said Siword, in a decided tone.

"No; I feel myself that it cannot ge on long; but every day I begin to see more and more my own powerlessness to bring about any alteration, and Otto cannot or will not help me."

For a moment Siword made no answer. He looked with interest into Emmy's face, which was pale, and said in an earnest and almost fatherly tone

"Child, you look pale. Is anything the matter with you ?"

Emmy assured him in a few words of her own perfect well-being, and asked immediately after Seyna, whilst her eyes expressed the warmest interest.

"The little lady is very unhappy at the departure of Cousin Emmy," said Siword, smiling; "every time I come to Dilburg, she asks me when I am going to bring you During the past weeks Siword had taken back again, for she seems to have made possession of his house at Sollingen, but up her mind that it is my fault that you his little daughter still remained at Dilburg, went away. Fortunately, a great love for until he could have some rooms in the children has manifested itself in Mina, and château made habitable for her, and for she does all she possibly can to supplant the reception of the governess to whom he you in Seyna's affections, but hitherto was about to entrust her. without much success.

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Siword, as well as the family and many A satirical expression on Siword's lips. friends of Otto's, had been several times at made Emmy smile involuntarily, for what Beckley, but except for a few minutes when he said agreed so entirely with what she he had seen Emmy, he had been no better had herself noticed, when she heard Mina, received than any one else. When people who had never before given herself any were convinced that Otto was in earnest in trouble about children, speak to Seyna in

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