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Show 290 RTCIJAI'!D IJUHDIS. :ts tho!:ic wltich I ll:1d just formed, could rnakc me (ksirc rscarf' from it if T could. She wns compelled to yield thf' contcfit, since I assured !Jcr that my resolution was no less imperative than my engagements; but I promised to return soon, nud om marringc wns finnlly arranged for thnt period. 'Yitat nu !tour of bliss was thnt, in those deep groves, under that prcvniliug silence! "'What an Elysium had suddenly grown llll around me! Uow }JOtent was the m;~gician wltich could mnkc us forget the graves upon which we stood, and the Llood still flowing aronnd us, drcnming only of tllOSC rnpturcs whicl1, in the fortunes of two other fond crcnturcs like ourselves, k1d so suddenly brcn defeated! ]n tlwt hour, I thought not of tile daugcrs] was about to undergo, and she- the denr girl h;mgi11g on my Losom, and sl1eddiug tears of Illcasure-she seemed to forget tlwt earth ever contnined n tomb! Next morning, nfter we lwd tnkcn breakfttst, I strolled down the avenue to the entrance, and was suddenly accosted by a man whom I l1ad Hevcr seen before. He rode up with nn air of confidence, nnd asked me if I was Mr. llurdis-)fr. John Hm·dis? I replied in the 11egati,·c, but offered to sl10w him the way to the house, where he would find the person whom l1o sought. 'Vc met John coming forth. "That is your man, sir," said I to tl1e stranger. He tl1anked me, and instantly advanced to my brother. I could not help being a spectator, for I was compe1lcd to pa.ss them in order to enter the house; and my attention wns doubly fixed by the singular manner in which tl1c stranger on'cred Jolm Hurdis his hand. rrhe manner of tl1c tl1ing seemed nlso to provoke the astonislnneut of John, himself, who looked nt me with surprise amounting to consternation . I was almost disposed to laugh out at the idiot stare with which he trnnsferred his gaze from me to the stranger, and to me Hgain, for the C'xpression seemed absolutely ludicrous; but I wa.s on terms of too much civility with my brother to exhiLit any &ttch unnecessary familiarity; ::md, }Jassing into the house, I left the two together. 1'heir business seemed of a private nature, for tl1ey went iuto tiJC neighboring woods to flnish it; and John Uunlis did uot return from the interview, until I 11ad set forth a second time on my t ravels. The meaning of th is conference, and tl10 cause of that LOY!<; ANU IIE\'EXCE. 291 singular approach of the strunger, which awakened so much s~eming astonishment in the face of .John llurdis, will be sufliCJCntly expluinc_d herea:ter. l,ittlc did 1 then imagine the natu~~ of that bus mess wln.ch ! hnd undertaken, and of the mystellOUS developments of crnne to which my inquiries would lead me. |