gination retraced to him those secret charms betrayed to him by the
Enchanted Mirror, and He waited with impatience for the approach of
midnight.

VOLUME III

CHAPTER I

The crickets sing, and Man's o'er-laboured sense
Repairs itself by rest: Our Tarquin thus
Did softly press the rushes, ere He wakened
The chastity He wounded--Cytherea,
How bravely thou becom'st thy bed! Fresh Lily!
And whiter than the sheets!
Cymbeline.

All the researches of the Marquis de las Cisternas proved vain: Agnes
was lost to him for ever. Despair produced so violent an effect upon
his constitution, that the consequence was a long and severe illness.
This prevented him from visiting Elvira as He had intended; and She
being ignorant of the cause of his neglect, it gave her no trifling
uneasiness. His Sister's death had prevented Lorenzo from
communicating to his Uncle his designs respecting Antonia: The
injunctions of her Mother forbad his presenting himself to her without
the Duke's consent; and as She heard no more of him or his proposals,
Elvira conjectured that He had either met with a better match, or had
been commanded to give up all thoughts of her Daughter. Every day made
her more uneasy respecting Antonia's fate: While She retained the
Abbot's protection, She bore with fortitude the disappointment of her
hopes with regard to Lorenzo and the Marquis. That resource now failed
her. She was convinced that Ambrosio had meditated her Daughter's
ruin: And when She reflected that her death would leave Antonia
friendless and unprotected in a world so base, so perfidious and
depraved, her heart swelled with the bitterness of apprehension. At
such times She would sit for hours gazing upon the lovely Girl; and
seeming to listen to her innocent prattle, while in reality her
thoughts dwelt upon the sorrows into which a moment would suffice to
plunge her. Then She would clasp her in her arms suddenly, lean her
head upon her Daughter's bosom, and bedew it with her tears.

An event was in preparation which, had She known it, would have
relieved her from her inquietude. Lorenzo now waited only for a
favourable opportunity to inform the Duke of his intended marriage:
However, a circumstance which occurred at this period, obliged him to
delay his explanation for a few days longer.

Don Raymond's malady seemed to gain ground. Lorenzo was constantly at
his bedside, and treated him with a ten