238 THE VISITATION. 



some ^rambling transactions, and speeded to Tuscany, where I beheld, 

 for the first time, the Lady Octavia. She had been for some months a 

 widow, and possessed of immense wealth, in the full blaze of beauty and 

 youth, a woman of genius and accomplishment, she drew round her the 

 most brilliant of circles. I saw her and became blinded with adniiration ; 

 in excuse of my inconsistency — of my utter oblivion of the vows which 

 I had solemnly exchanged with another — pure and unsuspecting as an 

 angel — I ought probably to dwell upon the magic of the attraction ; but 

 I now sicken at the detail — my heart shudders at its infidelity, and I 

 hasten from the remembrance. It will be sufficient to state that the 

 short space of a year after my departure from England, found me wrapt 

 in the delirium of a new passion, and nourishing it with all the im- 

 petuosity of my character. My embarrassments, only, deterred me from 

 the discovery of my attachment ; but this impediment was quickly 

 removed : the death of a distant relation made me inheritor of a princely 

 estate. I hurried to take possession of that which promised me the 

 completion of my wishes ; for alas ! lanthe was forgotten ! oblivion had 

 passed over her name ; and her form and features, her love, her tender- 

 ness, her grace, and virtue, were thought of no more. Arriving with 

 all speed in this country, I went through the necessary forms, paid a 

 brief visit to the gothic hall and venerable shades that now called me 

 their lord, cast an enraptured eye on the paradise around, and fled back 

 to London to expedite my return to the continent. To my extreme 

 surprise and delight, I discovered the name of Lady Octavia in the list 

 of arrivals : why had she come to England ? why had she forsaken the 

 purple vineyards of Tuscany ? what could have withdrawn her from that 

 circle in which her whole soul seemed centred ? A secret delicious 

 whisper unfolded to me the cause, and ray heart and brow glowed as I 

 recognized this proof of her affection. On the wings of transport I 

 hastened to congratulate her ; she received me with subduing tenderness, 

 and it was impossible for one vain, warm-hearted, and volatile as myself, 

 to resist the impression that I was beloved. I withdrew from her 

 presence as a man enchanted by the spells of sorcery; all that had 

 hitherto attracted and swayed me — even she who had been dearer to me 

 than my life, was now as a vapour — a cloud fading on the horizon, a 

 weed hurried away on the bosom of the ocean. To declare myself openly 

 to Lady Octavia alone remained, and for this purpose, agitated by a 

 thousand emotions, but buoyed up with the sweet delusions of hope, I 

 made the visit whose issue I am about to relate. How can I express the 

 doubt — the wonder — the absolute astonishment that possessed me, on 

 beholding lanthe in the last place where I would have sought her — 

 beneath the roof of her too dazzling rival, the haughty, the brilliant, 

 the captivating Octavia. Her name had never passed my lips, for the 

 story of our love had been hidden in my bosom as a sealed tome laid 

 aside and forgotten ; how she should become a guest in that house I 

 could not imagine, but momentary only were my reflections : a tide of 

 emotions overwhelmed my thoughts ; it was the resurrection of the past ; 

 the buried rose again, not in shroud and ceral band, but bright in the 

 beauty and gladness of reality and life. Love awaking in my bosom, 

 cried " surrexil" my heart became too mighty for controul, and with an 

 irrepressible impulse I extended my arms to fold lanthe to my bosom, 

 and breathe in her ears once more the plighted vows of truth. But she 

 moved not from her position ; she betrayed no emotion ; the brow that 

 used to redden beneath my gaze, remained pale and transparent, but her 

 eye shone with a deep lustre and meaning, as she scrutinized my face ; 

 »n air of indescribable sadness, blended with a shade of reproach, sat on 



