to which you trust her, restore her to you no more! May the waves,
rolling back our corpses amidst the stones of the beach, give you, in the
loss of your two children, an eternal subject of remorse!'

"At these words I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him of
reason. His eyes flashed fire, big drops of sweat hung upon his face, his
knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat violently against his burning
bosom.

"Virginia, affrighted, said to him, 'Oh, my friend, I call to witness the
pleasures of our early age, your sorrow and my own, and every thing that
can forever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I remain, I
will live but for you; that if I go, I will one day return to be yours. I
call you all to witness, you who have reared my infancy, who dispose of my
life, who see my tears. I swear by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea
which I am going to pass, by the air I breathe, and which I never sullied
by a falsehood.'

"As the sun softens and dissolves an icy rock upon the summit of the
Apennines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were subdued by the
voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a flood of tears fell from his
eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his, held him in her arms, but
was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half distracted, said to me, 'I can
bear this no longer. My heart is broken. This unfortunate Voyage shall not
take place. Do take my son home with you. It is eight days since any one
here has slept.'

"I said to Paul, 'My dear friend, your sister will remain. To-morrow we
will speak to the governor; leave your family, to take some rest, and come
and pass the night with me.'

"He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of great
agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.

"But why should I continue any longer the recital of this history? There is
never but one aspect of human life which we can contemplate with pleasure.
Like the globe upon which we revolve, our fleeting course is but a day: and
if one part of that day be visited by light, the other is thrown into
darkness."

"Father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you have
begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are most
pleasing, those of misfortune are more instructive. Tell me what became of
the unhappy young man."

"The first object which Paul beheld in his way home was Mary, who, mounted
upon a rock, was