h you! Alas, never have I been so much to
be pitied as now. When the moon shone into the prison which confined me
you were then alive; when I was driven from the home which I loved so
much you were left me. I had in you a good father and protector and
faithful friend. Now I have no one. Poor, forsaken, suspected of crime,
I am alone in the world, a stranger, not knowing where to lay my head.
The only little corner that remained to me on the earth I am driven
from, and now I shall no longer have the consolation of coming here to
weep by your grave!" At these words the tears rushed forth afresh.

"Alas," said she, "I dare not at this hour beg a lodging for the night.
Indeed, if I tell why I was turned out of doors, no one perhaps will
consent to receive me."

She looked around. Against the wall, near her father's tomb, was a
gravestone, very old and covered with moss. As the inscription had been
effaced by time, it was left there to be used as a seat. "I will sit
down on this stone," said she, "and pass the night by my father's
grave. It is perhaps the last time I shall ever be here. To-morrow at
daybreak, if it be God's will, I shall continue my journey, going
wherever His hand may direct me."

CHAPTER XIV.

A STRANGE MEETING.

Mary sat down on the stone near the wall shaded by the thick foliage of
a tree which covered her with its dark branches. Here she poured out
her soul in fervent prayer to God. Suddenly she heard a sweet voice
calling her familiarly by her name, "Mary, Mary!"

The late hour of night and the solitude of the graveyard and her
loneliness made Mary start with fear. Looking up she saw the beautiful
face and figure of a woman, dressed in a long flowing robe. Frightened
and trembling, Mary was about to fly.

[Illustration: "Looking up she saw the beautiful face and figure of a
woman."
_See page 104._]

"Dear Mary," said the lady, with tenderness in her voice, "do not be
alarmed; I am not a spirit, but a human being like yourself. God has
heard your fervent prayers, and I have come to help you. Look at me; is
it possible you do not know me?"

The moon was shining brightly upon her face, and with an exclamation of
surprise, Mary cried out, "Is it you, the Countess Amelia? Oh, how did
you get here--here in so lonely a place at this hour of the night, so
far from your home?"

The Countess raised Mary gently from the ground, pressed her to her
heart, and kissed her tenderly.

"Dear Mary