6*32 THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. 



his pen with a narrative of the awful and extraordinary catastrophe 

 which deprived him, in a moment, and on a party of pleasure, too, 

 of one in whose existence his whole soul was bound, and in whom 

 was centred all his thoughts, and desires, and hopes of future hap- 

 piness. He referred to paragraphs from the newspapers, which he 

 enclosed, for an account of the event which had so suddenly hurled 

 him from bliss to misery. In conclusion, he reverted to the almost 

 incredible resemblance of Mrs. Ashe to that unfortunate young lady ; 

 in corroboration of which he inclosed her portrait, which she had 

 herself placed in his bosom, on the morning of the day that deprived 

 him of her for ever, and which had never since been removed from 

 his heart. 



Having made up the packet, and broken it open a dozen times to 

 gaze yet once again on the portrait, and to press it to his heart and 

 lips, it was sealed for the last time, and Clinton enjoyed a few hours 

 of more refreshing slumber than he had known for a long period. 

 Such is ever the effect of a communication of our sorrows, when we 

 are assured of the sympathy of a fellow-creature ! 



Early the following morning Clinton rode over to visit his little 

 patient, and availed himself of a favourable opportunity to place his 

 vindication, unseen by a third party, in the hands of Mrs. Ashe, 

 who, fully relying on the honour of her new friend, unhesitatingly 

 received it. 



Major, now Colonel Ashe, was in his youth celebrated at college 

 for every thing but application to study, and an observance of the 

 principles and etiquette of polished society. Roving in disposition, 

 fiery and ungovernable in temper, coarse in his manners and pur- 

 suits, and slovenly in his appearance, he was the last man that Caro- 

 line Duchesne would have chosen, of her own free will, for her lord 

 and master. But she had been betrothed by her father, and he had 

 been peremptory, and the estates were contiguous, and the world 

 at least the worthy old couple, who formed the only portion of it 

 that she had yet seen all said it was a fit and proper match and 

 she strove to be as obedient a wife as she had been a daughter ; but 

 she felt that happiness had departed from her for ever with her 

 maiden name. She had since travelled, and mingled with the world 

 at large which also, however, fully concurred in the opinion of the 

 world of worthy old couple aforesaid, that the marriage of her's 

 and her husband's large properties was a fit and judicious match ; 

 and that, with such wealth, and station, and establishments, and 

 equipages, and retinues, she must be the happiest woman on the 

 earth. Alas ! what are wealth, and station, and establishments, and 

 equipages, and retinues, and the opinion of the world to boot, to a 

 lovely woman, every day becoming more and more conscious that 

 her heart that more than all the world to her had been sacrificed 

 beyond redemption to a mistaken kindness on the part of her parent ; 

 and, on her own part, to an exaggerated sense of filial and womanly 

 obedience ! It is an old tale but the court, the city, the cot, in 

 their comparative degree, abound with " modern instances." 



Shut up in the retirement of her own chamber, Mrs. Ashe hastened 

 to break the seal of Clinton's packet The moment the portrait met 



