St. Elmo

rotunda, whence issued a stream of light. Timidly she crossed the threshold and stood within on the checkered floor, whose polished ti

arble, inlaid with red onyx and lapis lazuli, which formed a miniature zodiac similar to that at Denderah, while in the middle of this table sat a small Murano hour-glass, filled with sand from the dreary valley of El Ghor. A huge plaster Trimurti stood close to the wall, on a triangular pedestal of black rock, and the Siva-face and the writhing cobra confronted all who entered. Just opposite grinned a red granite slab with a quaint basso-relievo taken from the ruins of Elora. Near the door were two silk

me

e in; I only want to

say to me. I have neither blue blazes nor pitchforks about me, and you will be safe inside. I give you my word

ted white marble pillars, supporting a handsome arch, where hung heavy curtains of crimson Persian silk, that were now partly looped back, showing the furniture of the sleeping apartment beyond the richly car

window and

a; but she shook her

y, which I think you must value very much, and th

r eyes she held th

t is

girl's face; but as she made no reply, he glanced down

lled round the world in my pocket, and that I lost a year ago, so

eft it-on the grass nea

mith's sh

mber the sign, under the horse-sh

who was A

gled for composure, and lookin

person in the world I had to c

l, g

horse fretted, and he could n

um

urray bit his lip and scowled, and, reco

you forgot them. I called you back and gave you your shawl; but I

he shop. Strange I did not recognize you before

. Murray call your name; then I knew that the initials written in the boo

e, and her mission end

not give it to me w

r shoulder to detain her, he said, more gentl

part with it, or was it because you feared to co

s he had done in the park, he continued in the same low, sw

your answer, and I

h precious memories, as she lifted th

e and good, and he was a

ive a man who happene

rather go now. I have given you yo

e afraid of me, and want

it, but her face

se are rare traits at the present day. I thank you for pr

l of it. Good

t. When did A

s after yo

tives? No cousins

ver heard of.

unds, be sure that wolf, Ali, is chained up, or you may be sorr

elieved that the ordeal was over-that in future there remained no necessity for her to address one wh

ird full of Falerian, whose topaz drops had grown strangely mellow and golden in the ashy cellars of Herculaneum, and had doubtless been destined for some luxurious triclinium in the days of Titus. A small Byzantine picture, painted on wood, with a silver frame ornamented with cornelian stars, and the background heavily gilded, hung over an etagere, where lay a leaf from Nebuchadnezzar's diary, one of those Babylonish bricks on which his royal name was stamped. Near it stood a pair of Bohemian vases representing the two varieties of lotus-one velvety white with rose-colored veins, the other with delicate blue petals. This latter whim had cost a vast amount of time, trouble, and money, it having been found difficult to carefully preserve, sketch, and paint them for the manufacturer in Bohemia, who had never seen the holy lotus, and required specimens. But the indomitable will of the man, to whose wishes neither oceans nor deserts opposed successful barriers, finally triumphed, and the coveted treasures fully repaid their price as they glistened in the gaslight, perfect as their prototypes slumbering on the bosom of the Nile, under the blazing midnight stars of rainless Egypt. Several handsome rosewood cases were filled with rare books-two in Pali-centuries old; and moth-eaten volumes and valuable MSS.-some in parchment, some bound in boards-recalled the days of astrology and alchemy, and the sombre mysteries of Rosicrucianism. Side by side, on an ebony stand, lay an Elzevir Terence, printed in red letters, and a curious Birman book, whose pages consisted of thin leaves of ivory, gilded at the edges; and here too were black rhyta from Chiusi, and a cylix from Vulci, and one of those quaint Peruvian jars, which was so constructed that, when filled with water, the air escaped in sounds that resembled that of the song or cry of the animal represented on the v

US imprisoned hope. I prefe

uette of Mors, modeled from that hideous little brass figure which Spence saw at F

dead as the mummies of Karnac, and treacherously, repulsively lustrous as the waves that break in silver circles over the buried battlements, and rustling palms and defiled altars of the proud cities of the plain. No rosy memories of early, happy manhood lingered here; no dewy gleam of the merry morning of life, when hope painted and peopled a smiling world; no m

hich, properly directed, would have made him the benefactor and ornament of the society he snubbed and derided. Like all strong though misguided natures, the power and activity of his mind enhanced his wretchedness, and drove him farther and farther from the path of rectitude; while the consciousness that he was originally capable of loftier, purer aims, and nobler pursuits than those that now engrossed his perverted thoughts, rendered him savagely morose. For nearly fifteen dreary years, nothing but jeers and oaths and sarcasms had crossed his finely sculptured lips, which had forgotten how to smile; and it was only when the mocking demon of the win

ded was not at all unusual or surprising, but to be pitied and despised was a sensation as novel as humilia

y from my hand, as if I were plague-stricken or a leper. Her very eyelids shudder when she looks at me-and I believe she would more willingly confront Apollyon himself. Strange! how she det

onging to crush something; and then came a great revuls

man has not dreamed of nor language painted it. What would I not give for a fresh, pure, and untrampled heart, such a

face in his hands; and thus an hour went by

last, rising, he threw his head back, with his wonted defiant air, and his face hardened

d to reflect. The devil himself woul

ut paused and laughed scornfully

shall not need to see them, the

k it, and taking down Candide, brightened the gas jets, lig

at fearful empire which the human breast