24 Loves Last Meeting. [JAN. 



as those which instigated me, can make his way through any obstacle. 

 I gained the door ; smoke and flames were pouring through the aperture 

 as from the crater of Vesuvius. I pulled my bonnet over my brows, and 

 rushed up the stairs. On the first landing the chamber of Beatrice was to 

 the left that of her mother to the right. I turned to the left the room 

 was vacant I I began to hope she had escaped I rushed into the oppo- 

 site room. As I entered, I stumbled over something on the floor : it 

 was her body, with that of her mother in her arms ! She had sunk in 

 attempting to save her. It was only now that I perceived the terrible 

 density of the smoke to remove her was the only hope left. In an 

 instant I bore her though the smoke, and flames, and crumbling ruins into 

 the street. She was dead ! 



What were my feelings ? Heaven only knows I In its mercy it has 

 decreed that a blow like this shall numb the heart it crushes, Those 

 who have gone through the ordeal can give no account of it ; those who 

 have not, can form no idea of it. The first thing which made any 

 impression upon me was a fellow-student, who was to me as a brother, 

 pointing out the effect which the indulgence of my despair had upon my 

 mother and sister. " They have claims upon you," he said ; " the 

 nearest, the most holy live for them !" The truth of what he said 

 struck me to the heart ; and, like most persons whose minds are shaken 

 by some great sorrow, I rushed from one extreme into the other. I had 

 passed the few days which had elapsed since the night in a state of alter- 

 nate desperate despair and stupor. I could not now restore myself' to 

 calmness. I needed a violent resolution, and I formed one. I deter- 

 mined, in despite of all my friend could say to dissuade me, to resume 

 my studies at once ; and I determined to accompany him that very 

 evening to a lecture which the professor was to give. 

 . It was the first time I had been in the fresh air since the catastrophe 

 had happened. The state of the atmosphere, the aspect of the heavens, 

 were precisely similar to what they had been when I looked upon them 

 with her. The clouds racked over the moon the Arno looked dark and 

 troubled, and rushed by with a moaning noise. When I had last seen 

 these sights when I had last heard these sounds she was my side. 

 Oh God ! where was she now ? Those who have suffered a great 

 affliction can, I am sure, full well recall to mind the impression of cutting 

 pain which the contrast between the present time and a few short days 

 before has made upon them. Every thing in the external world, every 

 thing on the surface of society, seems to be proceeding in its usual train. 

 No length of time has passed to account for so vast a change ; a few 

 days only have elapsed but life is closed for them : one expanse of 

 impenetrable gloom is all that the future is to them ! 



We walked hastily onward I had no inclination to loiter on the way. 

 We entered the room just as the lecture was beginning. A crowd of 

 students had gathered round the table on which the "subject" lay. I 

 joined them; and having, by degrees, penetrated the circle,! carelessly cast 



my eyes upon the body which lay before me. It was hers / The 



room reeled round with me I fell senseless ! 



L. 



