As he bade her good
night, his voice faltered, and he passed his hand suddenly athwart his
brow. Constance, having fulfilled this sacred duty, shrank from any
further intercourse, and hastened to her chamber. It was long ere she
could sleep; portentous dreams then brooded over her slumbers. The
terrible vision was repeated, and she awoke, but not to her wonted
cheerfulness.
How strange, how mysterious, the mechanism of the human heart! The
feelings glide insensibly into each other, changing their hue and
character imperceptibly, as the colours on the evening cloud. Protection
awakens kindness, kindness pity, and pity love. Love, the more
dangerous, too, the process being unperceived, insidiously disguised
under other names, and under the finest sympathies and affections of our
nature.
With a step light and noiseless as that of her favourite spaniel who
crept behind her, did Constance make an early visit to ascertain the
safety of her prisoner. His retreat was unmolested. The pursuit was for
the present evaded, and his enemies thrown out in their track. It was
needful, however, that he should remain for a few days in his present
concealment, prior to the attempt by which he purposed to regain his
native country.
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