pressed them
gently, and said, in a slightly faltering voice:

"For Florence's sake--for mine--for your own, do not give way to such
gloomy forebodings! Your depressed spirits will act injuriously on
your health. Let me beg you to place no confidence in Aunt Fanny's
words at parting; she was herself scarce conscious of their import."

"I have no gloomy forebodings, no apprehension of the future, and
generally no depressed spirits; but I know full well that my life is
gradually wasting away, slowly, gently, and almost without pain, I
am sinking to an early tomb. Yet I would not have it otherwise if I
could. Death has long lost all terrors for me; I have no fear--all is
peace and quiet. I am paining you. Forgive me, Dr. Bryant; but knowing
that you and Florry were anxious about me, I thought it best to tell
you that I am fully aware of my danger, if so I can term what I would
not avert."

A shudder crept over the strong man as he looked down at the calm,
colorless face of her who spoke so quietly of death, and of quitting
forever the scenes she loved so truly.

"I cannot--will not believe you are so ill. You will grow stronger
when we leave this place, and a year hence, when quite well again, you
will beg pardon for the pain you have given me."

A faint smile played round the thin lips, and in silence they
proceeded to Mrs. Carlton's.

CHAPTER XXIV.

"Who's here besides foul weather?"

SHAKESPEARE.

Far away stretched the prairie, bounded, ocean-like, only by the
horizon; the monotony occasionally relieved by clumps of aged live
oaks, which tossed their branches to and fro in summer breezes and
in wintry blasts, and lent a mournful cadence to the howlings of the
tempest. Now and then a herd of deer, lifting proudly their antlered
heads, seemed to scorn danger from the hand of man, as they roamed
so freely over the wide, desolate waste which possessed no visible
limits. And groups of cattle, starting at the slightest sound, tossed
their horns in defiance, and browsed along the mosquit, in many places
so luxuriant as well-nigh to conceal their forms. The day had been
unusually warm for January, and the sun beamed down with a sickening
intensity which made the blood tingle in the veins. Toward noon the
sky assumed a dull, leaden cast, and light flakes of cloud, like
harbingers of evil, scudded ominously overhead. The sun passed the
zenith, and a low sighing breeze swept moaningly across the wide
was