1829.] the late Mr. Hermann Alsager. 153 



never hope to meet with again. — But leave me, Ilerwaldsen ; I am not 

 fit for society, and least of all for your's." 



" Hermann, this is worse than folly ! — But come, come, you shall go 

 with me to Hortense ; her society will relieve your gloom. By-the-by, 

 your absence has half offended her, for of late she has not once men- 

 tioned your name." 



In vain I conjured him to spare me, in vain to leave me to myself: 

 Hel'waldsen Mould hear of no reply, but vov.'ed that he would not leave 

 the room till I agreed to accompany him to the cottage. 



I went, and again beheld that glorious being, the incarnation of grace 

 and beauty — the gentle, the suscejitible Hortense. She received me at 

 first with grave and distant courtesy ; but, when she perceived the 

 ravages that remorse had made in my person ; when she saw my sunken 

 eye j when she heard my faltering voice ; when she marked the timid— 

 the respectful manner, in which I listened to her condolences, and pre- 

 sumed to address her in reply, the stiffness of her demeanour left her ; 

 with a glance she vouchsafed forgiveness, and even condescended to seat 

 herself beside me. That evenixig was the happiest I ever spent. 



Early next morning, I received another visit from Herwaldsen. After 

 congratulating me on my renovated spirits, — " I am come," he said, " to 

 receive your congratulations in return. When you left us last night, I 

 had a long and earnest conversation with Hortense. I told her of my 

 approaching triumph ; I appealed to her strength of affection ; I even 

 piqued her sense of honour ; and at last wrung from her a promise, that 

 the same day which should witness ray success in the hall of the univer- 

 sity, should also make her a bride." 



Herwaldsen ceased ; but, had death itself been the consequence of my 

 silence, I could have made him no reply. My head swam round — my 

 limbs shook under me — I was struck as with an ice-bolt to the heart. 

 After struggling some time with my feelings, — " Hervt'aldsen," I at 

 length faltered out, " I congratulate you on your good fortune, on that 



fortune which But no matter : you are worthy of Hortense, and 



she of you. IMay you be long happy together !" 



" But you will be present at the wedding }", 



" I will ;" — and, unable to utter another word, I rushed in haste from 

 the room. 



The time for taking university degrees was now fast approaching. 

 This is a period of great excitement among the literati of Stockholm. 

 The distinguished candidates are every where the chief topics of conver- 

 sation ; their acquaintance is sought; they ai-e pointed at in the street ; 

 they are made the lions of the day. Herwaldsen was one of the few 

 thus honoured ; and, could I have derived pleasure from any thing 

 unconnected with Hortense, I should have been delighted by the noto- 

 riety I secured by his friendship. But my heart was formed to admit 

 but one idea, and losing that, to lose every thing. The day appointed 

 for my rival's man-iage at length arrived; and, punctual to the hour, 

 Hortense, Herwaldsen, and myself, stood beside the altar. Herwaldsen 

 was unusually cheerful ; but Hortense — poor, devoted girl ! — seemed 

 oppressed with strange despondency. Yet never had she looked so 

 lovely ! Arrayed in simplest white, she stood like some guardian 

 seraph beside the shrine of its deity, her dark eye upturned to heaven, 

 and licr fair white hands clasped meekly across her breast. When the 

 ceremony was ended— that ceremony which crushed my last, my fondest 

 M.^l. New Sericx Vol.VHL No.44. X 



