FAITH AND LOVE. 105 



announcing the fatal news. Alas! I needed it not. Blessed 

 spirit ! I felt in my own frame the shiver of thy disseverance. 



" Ernest, you have shared my joy and my grief. God bless 

 you ! For few know the holiness of such a trust." 



Gilbert lived on, a graver man, it may be. "When the sacred 

 twelfth arrived there were no sweet records of devoted affection 

 to meet his eye ; and when I waited the long day of silence for 

 his re-appearance, my heart misgave me that all might not be 

 well. The hour of breakfast arrived, and all was yet silent. 

 Trembling with apprehension I entered his room. Gilbert was 

 seated by the table with his two hands folded together and his 

 head resting upon them. As I lifted up his face a miniature 

 met my eye. Great God ! it was that of my noble, my sainted 

 mother, and Gilbert — he was dead. 



