t gift of nature--her voice, she could not have
excited it. With a blushing cheek, and eyes sparkling with honest
pride, she struck the piano with a firm hand, and from her seemingly
weak and delicate chest poured forth a touching Polish melody, with a
voice pure, sonorous, and plaintive. Tears were in many eyes, and the
beating of every heart was quickened.

The song was finished, but the wondering silence was unbroken.
Giovanna leaned exhausted on the arm of the chair, and cast down
her eyes. On again raising them, she perceived a gentleman who gazed
fixedly at her, as if he still listened to echoes which had not
yet died within him. The master of the house, to dissipate his
thoughtfulness, led him toward Giovanna. "Let me present to you,
Signora," he said, "a countryman, the Count Leon Roszynski."

The lady trembled; she silently bowed, fixed her eyes on the ground,
and dared not raise them. Pleading indisposition, which was fully
justified by her pallid features, she soon after withdrew.

When on the following day Giovanna'a servant announced the Counts
Selka and Roszynski, a peculiar smile played on her lips, and when
they entered, she received the latter with the cold and formal
politeness of a stranger. Controlling the feelings of her heart,
she schooled her features to an expression of indifference. It was
manifest from Leon's manner, that without the remotest recognition, an
indefinable presentiment regarding her possessed him. The Counts had
called to know if Giovanna had recovered from her indisposition. Leon
begged to be permitted to call again.

Where was his wife? why did he never mention her? Giovanna continually
asked herself these questions when they had departed.

A few nights after, the Count Leon arrived sad and thoughtful. He
prevailed on Giovanna to sing one of her Polish melodies; which she
told him had been taught, when a child, by her muse. Roszynski, unable
to restrain the expression of an intense admiration he had long felt,
frantically seized her hand, and exclaimed, "I love you!"

She withdrew it from his grasp, remained silent for a few minutes,
and then said slowly, distinctly, and ironically, "But I do not love
_you_, Count Roszynski."

Leon rose from his seat. He pressed his hands to his brow, and was
silent. Giovanna remained calm and tranquil. "It is a penalty from
Heaven," continued Leon, as if speaking to himself, "for not having
fulfilled my duty as a husband toward one whom