MOKE LIVE-STOCK. 67 



of the steps, and walked off on the wrong side. It 

 was a fall of ten feet ; with a wild shriek she pitched 

 head foremost on the bricks of the area. 



The lover waited and waited, fearing let suspicions 

 might have been aroused, or resolution have failed ; 

 amid the noise of blustering winds and falling leaves 

 he thought he heard a cry of distress, and, at last be 

 coming uneasy, determined to visit his dulcinea s win 

 dow, and ask her how she did. Tying his horses, he 

 crept quietly along the shady side of the hedge, 

 which was that on the opposite side to her room, as 

 he did not wish to be seen. As soon as he reached 

 the piazza, he followed along under the edge of it 

 till he came to the steps, where he waited for a 

 friendly cloud to conceal his movements, when he 

 was compelled to pass outside of them. 



The opportunity soon offered, he slipped by, and 

 the cloud cleared away just after he had stumbled 

 on a bundle of clothes, as he supposed, beyond the 

 steps ; he turned to look ; and there, lying upon her 

 back, staring up to heaven with lack-lustre, wide- 

 open eyes, the crimson stains upon her white fore 

 head telling her fate, stiff, and stark, and cold, lay all 

 that he held dearest in this world. Her lips would 

 never again whisper words of love ; her heart had 

 ceased to feel that passion which had proved her 



