the
stage, and seated her on the black couch of Calista. There they left her
quite alone for a while, and stood back where they could observe without
disturbing her. They saw her gaze about her dreamily and mournfully;
then she seemed to be recalling and reciting some favorite part. To
their surprise, the tones of her voice were clear and resonant once
more; and when she had ceased speaking, she rose and walked toward them,
slowly, but firmly, turning once or twice to bow proudly and solemnly to
an invisible audience. Just before she reached them, she suddenly
pressed her hand on her heart, and the next instant felt forward into
the arms of her maid. The young girl could not support the weight--the
_dead_ weight, and sank with it to the floor. Zelma had made her last
exit.

THE MURDER OF THE INNOCENTS.

A SECOND EPISTLE TO DOLOROSUS.

So you are already mending, my dear fellow? Can it be that my modest
epistle has done so much service? Are you like those invalids in Central
Africa, who, when the medicine itself is not accessible, straightway
swallow the written prescription as a substitute, inwardly digest it,
and recover? No,--I think you have tested the actual _materia medica_
recommended. I hear of you from all directions, walking up hills in the
mornings and down hills in the afternoons, skimming round in wherries
like a rather unsteady water-spider, blistering your hands upon
gymnastic bars, receiving severe contusions on your nose from
cricket-balls, shaking up and down on hard-trotting horses, and making
the most startling innovations in respect to eating, sleeping, and
bathing. Like all our countrymen, you are plunging from one extreme to
the other. Undoubtedly, you will soon make yourself sick again; but your
present extreme is the safer of the two. Time works many miracles; it
has made Louis Napoleon espouse the cause of liberty, and it may yet
make you reasonable.

After all, that advice of mine, which is thought to have benefited you
so greatly, was simply that which Dr. Abernethy used to give his
patients: "Don't come to me,--go buy a skipping-rope." If you can only
guard against excesses, and keep the skipping-rope in operation, there
are yet hopes for you. Only remember that it is equally important to
preserve health as to attain it, and it needs much the same regimen. Do
not be like that Lord Russell in Spence's Anecdotes, who only went
hunting for the sake of an appetite, and who, the momen