itherto proved a regular and
frequent correspondent.

Another fortnight dragged heavily on, and at length the announcement
came in an official form. Lieutenant Von Hallberg had been invited
to the castle of a nobleman whom he was in the custom of visiting, in
order to be present at the wedding of a lady; that he was indisposed
at the time, that he grew worse, and on the third morning had been
found dead in his bed, having expired during the night from an attack
of apoplexy.

Edward could not finish the letter--it fell from his trembling hand.
To see his worst fears realized so suddenly, overwhelmed him at first.
His youth withstood the bodily illness which would have assailed a
weaker constitution, and perhaps mitigated the anguish of his grief.
He was not dangerously ill, but they feared many days for his reason;
and it required all the kind solicitude of the director of the
college, combined with the most skillful medical aid, to stem the
torrent of his sorrow, and to turn it gradually into a calmer channel,
until by degrees the mourner recovered both health and reason. His
youthful spirits, however, had received a blow from which they
never rebounded, and one thought lay heavy on his mind, which he was
unwilling to share with any other person, and which, on that account,
grew more and more painful. It was the memory of that holy promise
which had been mutually contracted, that the survivor was to receive
some token of his friend's remembrance of him after death. Now two
months had already passed since Ferdinand's earthly career had been
arrested, his spirit was free, why no sign? In the moment of death
Edward had had no intimation, no message from the passing spirit, and
this apparent neglect, so to speak, was another deep wound in Edward's
breast. Do the affections cease with life? Was it contrary to the will
of the Almighty that the mourner should taste this consolation? Did
individuality lose itself in death, and with it memory? Or did one
stroke destroy spirit and body? These anxious doubts, which have
before now agitated many who reflect on such subjects, exercised their
power over Edward's mind with an intensity that none can imagine save
one whose position is in any degree similar.

Time gradually deadened the intensity of his affliction. The violent
paroxysms of grief subsided into a deep but calm regret. It was as
if a mist had spread itself over every object which presented itself
before him, robbing th