Doubtless that unlucky
dream had rendered her more susceptible to the wound.
Dreams have this operation; and whether good or evil, they leave an
impression that no simple act of the will can efface. It seems to be the
work of a power superior to our own, for "the less begetteth not the
greater;" how, then, can the mind originate a train of conceptions, or
rather creations, superior to itself--above its own power to control?
But Isabella was too much engrossed by her feelings to attempt their
solution. She lay restless on her couch, but there was no escape. An
unquenchable flame was kindled in her soul, that not all the cool
appliances of reason could subdue. Tomorrow she must depart, and that
gay pageant vanish as a dream; and yet not like her own dream, for that
was abiding and indelible. To-morrow the brave knight must withdraw, and
the "Queen of Beauty," homaged for a day, give place to another whose
reign should be as brief and as unenduring. In this distempered mood,
with a heart all moved to sadness, did the Lady Isabel pass the first
hours of the following night.
Suddenly the sharp twang of a citerne was heard in the street below her
window,--nothing new in these piping times of love and minstrelsy; but
so sensitive was the ear now become to exterior impressions, that she
started, as though expecting a salutation from the midnight rambler.
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