654 



FRENCH CONVULSIVES. 



distil the smoke of their cigantos. Then would she climb some accessible 

 height, the extinguished crater of some old volcano, to gaze upon the 

 setting sun, which fired the red vapour of the atmosphere, and spread, as it 

 were, a dust half- gold, half- ruby, upon the murmuring edges of the sugar- 

 canes. She fancied that, beyond those waves and those distant vapours, the 

 magical apparition of another land would be unrolled to her eyes. And, in 

 truth, the clouds of the coast presented to her view fantastic shapes. Some- 

 times she beheld a white sheet rise above the waves, and describe a fantastic 

 line, which she took for the faade of the Louvre. At times it was two 

 square sails, which, suddenly emerging from the haze, reminded her of the 

 towers of Notre Dame, when the Seine exhales a thick fog, which embraces 

 their base, and give them the appearance of being suspended in the heavens ; 

 at other times it was large flakes of rosy clouds, whose changing forms pre- 

 sented all the caprices of architecture of an immense city. The mind of 

 that woman was wrapped in the recollection of the past, and she felt her 

 heart palpitate with joy at the sight of this imaginary Paris, whose realities 

 had signalized the most miserable periods of her existence. Poor creature ! 

 she lived for weeks and months beneath a tropical sky knowing, loving, 

 caressing nothing but a shadow." 



In these wanderings she was ever guarded by the vigilant tender- 

 ness of Sir Ralph, though all familiarity between them had almost 

 ceased. 



" He never absented himself from the house but during the hours when 

 the heat confined her to her home ; but when she went forth in the evening 

 he dexterously withdrew from Delmare, and repaired to wait for her, at the 

 foot of the rocks, upon which she was in the habit of seating herself. He 

 remained there whole hours, gazing at her at times through the branches, 

 blanched by the moon, but respecting the short space that separated her from 

 him, and never daring to shorten, by an instant, her melancholy reverie. 

 When she descended into the valley, she always found him on the bank of 

 the little rivulet, whose course was parallel with the path leading to the 

 house ; he gave her his arm, and conducted her to the house without utter- 

 ing a word, unless, being more melancholy than usual, she began the 

 conversation." 



Meantime Raymon, disappointed in his ambitious views by the 

 revolution of July, had retired to the country. He was seized with 

 a severe illness, which brought back his feelings to their former 

 course. His heart softened at the recollection of Indiana, and he 

 repented of his rejection of her sacrifice. Under the influence of 

 these ideas he wrote to her to say he was unhappy, and gently insi- 

 nuating the remedy for his afflictions. This letter, added to the 

 effect of a violent outbreak of her husband's temper, determined 

 Indiana to quit the Isle of Bourbon, and fly to Raymon. Difficulties 

 and sufferings of the most appalling nature were surmounted by her 

 energy and address. She arrives in France, and finds her lover 

 married to the heiress of the rich manufacturer who had purchased 

 her husband's property. The scene in which this eclaircisseimnt 

 takes place is so spirited, that we are tempted to extract it. 



She had intended to surprise him, and had given him no intima- 

 tion of her presence : 



" At the foot of the stairs she again paused to take breath she felt her- 

 self less able to bear joy than grief. She stooped and looked through the key- 

 hole ; RayniOQ was alone he was reading. It was, indeed, himself ; it was 



