rative.

"When so far recovered as to again be abroad, I was cautioned by my
parents against my rash act; and for their sakes, I promised to be
temperate in all my movements; but, alas! how little we know when we
promise, what we may be in sooth destined to perform. On my father's
estate, about a mile distant from his residence, was a beautiful
grove--whither, for recreation, I was in the habit of repairing at all
periods of my life; and where, so soon as my strength permitted, after
my sickness, I rambled daily. About ten days from my recovery, as I was
taking my usual stroll through these grounds, I was suddenly confronted
by my cousin. His cheeks were hollow and pale, and his whole appearance
haggard in the extreme. His eyes, too, seemed to flash, or burn, as it
were, with an unearthly brightness; and his voice, as he addressed me,
was hoarse, and his manner hurried.

"'We meet well,' he said, 'well! I have watched for you long.'

"'Away!' cried I; 'tempt me no more--or something will follow I may
regret hereafter!'

"'Ha, ha, ha!' laughed he, in derision, with that peculiar, hollow
sound, which even now, as I recall it, makes my blood run cold:--'Say
you so, cousin?--I came for that;' and again he laughed as before. 'See
here--see here!' and he presented, as he spoke, with the butts toward
me, a brace of pistols. 'Here is what will settle all our animosities,'
he continued; 'take your choice, and be quick, or perchance we may be
interrupted.'

"'Are you mad,' cried I, 'that you thus seek my life, after the wrongs
you have done me?'

"'Mad!--ha, ha!--yes!--yes!--I believe I am,' he answered; 'and my wife
is mad also. I did you wrong, I know--went to apologise for it, and you
struck me down. Whatever the offence, a blow I never did and never will
forgive; so take your choice, and be quick, for one or both of us must
never quit this place alive.'

"'Away!' cried I, turning aside; 'I will not stain my hands with the
blood of my kin. Go! the world is large enough to hold us both.'

"'Coward!' hissed he; 'take that, then, and bear what I have borne;' and
with the palm of his hand he smote me on the cheek.

"I could bear no more--I was no longer myself--I was maddened with
passion--and snatching a pistol from his hand, which was still extended
toward me, without scarcely knowing what I did, I exclaimed, 'Your blood
be on your own head!'--and--and--Oh, Heaven!--pardon me, Ella--I--shot
him through the body."

E