Continental Monthly, Vol. 5, Issue 2, February, 1864

town. In it was seated a lady, with her veil down and her parasol held closely over her

at the moment saw the lady turn very pale as her eyes fell on the direction of the letter. Her companion saw it too, and instantly stepping into the place beside her, took up the reins, and drove rapidly along the main street of the town, past the harbor, to an open road skirting the sea. Here he

on, July

be praised! We got in here from New York this morning, and I have had the good luck to find a vessel, the Armorique, which sails straight for H--. The mail leaves directly, but we shall probably be detained a few hours by the tide; so this will reach you a day before I arrive: the master cal

devot

and vacantly before him, and a half-suppressed curse escaped his lips. Then his eyes reverted to his neighbor. After some hesitat

very pleasant tone, 'what's the

at they had left the town behind them, raised h

she, holding out

it, and pretended

eturns. Delightfu

ense; 'we mustn't jest at so

ll be a solemn meeting. Two ye

are to face him,' cried Ho

of her friend. But he was plunged in so deep a reverie, that he did

es not himself feel so secure but that the sight of a companion's indifference will give him relief. 'What if he

hat greets him, if only to say bon jour, will w

e poor devils who are pushing their way to land on a floating spar, don't bestow many glances on those who are battling with the waves beside them. Their eyes are fastened to the shore, and all their care is for their own safety. In life we are all afloat on a tumultuous sea;

don't feel the shots which are not aimed at you. It isn't of you the town talks, but of me: a poor woman throws herself off the pier yonder, and drowns before a kind hand has time to restrain her, an

rtense, she is not counted drowned. It's only wh

moment, looking at the

speaking metaphorically: I have ha

eople talk, do they? Can't you talk as well as they? A woman is in the wrong from the moment she holds her tongue

' said Hortense indiffe

elevant as matters entirely foreign to it. Her eyes were still fastened on the sea. There was a

it was because he had done so that he spoke: 'I do not need to tell you that it will never happen to me to betray o

e. 'He will not be with me ten

her companion, dryly,

Meyrau!' cr

r, 'that in making such a guarantee,

he business!' s

g. Her companion sat upright, with contracted brows and firmly set teeth, looking straight before him, and by an occasional heavy lash keeping the horse at a furious pace. A wayfarer might have taken him fo

ed down to the water, where there was a landing place for small boats, saw her draw in the window blind and darken the room, still in her bonnet and cloak. She remained alone for a couple of hours. At five o'clock, some time aft

me?' asked Josephine; 'a tis

ng, no

madame

N

er not go wholly

bottle of wi

een thrown open, the woman could see that, although her mistress's hat had been tossed upon the sofa, her cloak had n

ore?' she ventured to say,

ead, and closed an

ning. She heard no sound. At last she deliberatel

what s

on a glass half filled with water, standing, together with an open letter, on a table beside her. She kept this position until Josephine began to grow tired of waiting. But just as she was about to arise

by a sudden thought, and hurried across the room. She stooped down before a cabinet, and took out a small opera glass. With this she returned to the window, put it to her eyes, and again spent some moments in looking seawar

wonderment no longer. She

have no dinner, she is drinking brandy by the glassful, a moment ago she was looking out

m her potato-peeling w

said she, 'but tha