here by me, and I'll play nurse for you."

The girl knelt, and her young mistress drew toward her a bottle of
lavender water, and poured it upon the bowed head before her; putting it
on with her own soft hands till the long black curls glittered with the
bright drops, as if decked with diamonds.

"There, Minny, you are better now. Wipe my hands and undress me."

With gentle, but trembling fingers, the girl proceeded to obey; and as
her mistress lay listlessly back in her large fauteuil, proceeded to
remove each article of dress, without the slightest assistance from the
languid form before her.

The jewels were laid away in their velvet cases--the ribbons folded and
laid aside--the rich robe placed in the armoire, and the frilled and
embroidered _robe de nuit_ placed upon her, and fastened with its gold
buttons about her neck and wrists, with no more motion on the part of
that passive figure, than if it had been a doll in the hands of a
child.

Finding herself ready for bed, the young lady arose, and followed her
maid into an adjoining apartment. The lace bar was held up, while she
laid herself upon the luxurious couch, and Minny arranged the scented
pillow beneath the fair young head.

"Anything more, Miss?"

"No, Minny; yet stay! That dear little note, hand it to me; and the
bottle of ottar of roses."

The white fingers of the heiress clasped the exquisitely cut bottle
containing the precious perfume, and one clear drop was suffered to fall
upon the snowy envelope of the note. She then pressed the paper to her
lips, and laid it away beneath her pillow.

"Anything more, my lady?"

"Yes, Minny. Did you ever have a lover? Some one, Minny, to love you
with all his heart, and swear he'd die for you--and to write you such
tender letters--and to--and to--"

Della Delancey slept with the love-letter of Bernard Wilkins beneath her
pillow.

Minny had stood with every vestige of color faded from her cheek as her
young mistress spoke, and her whole frame quivering with emotion, which
she tried in vain to conceal. An expression of relief crossed her
features, as her questioner fell away into slumber, and, hastening from
the bedside, she sought the outer-room, and flung herself down into the
large chair Della had so recently vacated.

"Some one to love me," she murmured, brokenly. "Ah! yes, yes! One who
swore to love me; one who vowed to cherish me, only to forget his oath.
Fool! idiot! that I was, to thus yield u