THE VISITATION. 239 



her features — her silence — her portentous gaze — her deep thought — ^her 

 immovability — her unchanging hue arrested my advance ; the sense of 

 my faithlessness fell like a leaden weight on my heart. I was unworthy 

 — my hollowness was known — the mask of fidelity had fallen from my 

 brow — lanthe valued me not — she had weighed me in the balance, and lo ! 

 I was found wanting ! "And these are the signs of her displeasure," 

 cried I to myself, as I half shrunk from her eye — *' yet she shall not be 

 lost to me for ever ! no — I will die at her feet confessing my disloyalty, 

 and suing for her forgiveness 1" " lanthe ! lanthe !'* I looked at her 

 with wild imploration — tears trembled in my eyes. I held out my hands 

 deprecatingly — I bowed my head in submissiveness ; still she contem- 

 plated me in voiceless abstraction ; her eye burned like a radiant star, 

 but the pulses of existence seemed frozen ; her lip moved not, her tresses 

 lay motionless on her neck, as though carved in marble — even the very 

 sound of her respiration was unheard; it was too evident she was 

 transfixed with the intensity of her feeling ; my alarm was unutterable ; 

 but how could I, humbled by a consciousness of error, approach her ? 

 how could I soothe her, who was the cause of her suffering ? Maddened 

 with despair by her mysterious deportment, I flung myself before her, 

 and would have, at least, caught her robe in my hands, but she avoided 

 my touch ; the shade on her brow deepened, she waved her head mourn- 

 fully, the chilness of death encompassed me and crept through my 

 veins, my very heart became as an icicle — lanthe faded from my view, 

 the last wave of her golden tresses, the last fold of her retreating robe 

 mingled with the obscurity of the evening, as the door opened, and the 

 Lady Octavia stood before me in all the magnificence of beauty. But 

 the charm was broken — her dominion was over — it had passed away as 

 a dream — I beheld her with absolute indifference, if not with a kind of 

 aversion ; yet how imperial was her loveliness — how lofty her character ! 

 her brow, her eye, her lip — every feature — every light and shade of her 

 countenance was fitted to captivate admiration ; but my feelings had 

 experienced an utter revulsion ; 1 stood in the centre of the past sur- 

 rounded by a halo of re-illumined brightness. " Tell me where is she ? — 

 how came she here ? — how long have you known her ?" exclaimed I, 

 impetuously, as the Lady Octavia advanced ; she paused, an air of 

 surprise stole over her conntenance. " Of whom do you speak ?" and 

 she bent her dark eyes inquiringly upon me. '* Miss M.," returned I, 

 *' where has she gone ? why has she disappeared ?" and I glanced round 

 inquisitively; the brow of the Lady Octavia crimsoned, as she said 

 coldly and haughtily, " you dream. Sir ! some recent orgies have, I fear, 

 disturbed your perceptions." Her displeasure was manifest, to question 

 was folly, yet, half-shuddering, I pursued the thread of interrogation. 

 ** Surely she was here but this moment ! keep me not in suspense I 

 conjure you ! she cannot have passed from the apartment, yet where is 

 she concealed ?" I stood gazing with astonishment around ; there was 

 no spot where lanthe could have retreated from observation, yet I 

 examined every corner and unfolded the curtains in breathless anxiety. 

 *• This is madness ! absolute madness !" exclaimed the Lady Octavia, 

 ** you are disposed to trifle, but beware. Sir ! I love not such humour." 

 Her words fell heard but unheeded, something glittered on the carpet 

 where lanthe had vanished from my sight. T. snatched it up hastily ; it 

 was a ring — the very ring which I had placed upon her hand on the eve 

 of our adieu. Here was proof — proof irrefragable of her having been 

 in the room ; the mystery was unfathomable, and conjecture was hideous ; 

 my heart sickened as I beheld the token — the pearls were discoloured, 

 and the motto engraven within was defaced ; it was strange — ominous — 



NO. IV. 2 I 



