th in an opposite direction. That path
led to Bethany.

CHAPTER LXI.

_Arrival of the Duke and Duchess_

THE crest of the palm tree in the garden of Eva glittered in the
declining sun; and the lady of Bethany sat in her kiosk on the margin
of the fountain, unconsciously playing with a flower, and gazing in
abstraction on the waters. She had left Tancred with her father, now
convalescent. They had passed the morning together, talking over the
strange events that had occurred since they first became acquainted
on this very spot; and now the lady of Bethany had retired to her own
thoughts.

A sound disturbed her; she looked up and recognised Tancred.

'I could not refrain from seeing the sun set on Arabia,' he said; 'I had
almost induced the noble Besso to be my companion.'

'The year is too old,' said Eva, not very composed.

'They should be midsummer nights,' said Tancred, 'as on my first visit
here; that hour thrice blessed!' 'We know not what is blessed in this
world,' said Eva, mournfully.

'I feel I do,' murmured Tancred; and he also seated himself on the
margin of the fountain.

'Of all the strange incidents and feelings that we have been talking
over this day,' said Eva, 'there seems to me but one result; and that
is, sadness.'

'It is certainly not joy,' said Tancred.

'There comes over me a great despondency,' said Eva, 'I know not why,
my convictions are as profound as they were, my hopes should not be less
high, and yet----'

'And what?' said Tancred, in a low, sweet voice, for she hesitated.

'I have a vague impression,' said Eva, sorrowfully, 'that there have
been heroic aspirations wasted, and noble energies thrown away; and yet,
perhaps,' she added, in a faltering tone, 'there is no one to blame.
Perhaps, all this time, we have been dreaming over an unattainable end,
and the only source of deception is our own imagination.'

'My faith is firm,' said Tancred; 'but if anything could make it falter,
it would be to find you wavering.'

'Perhaps it is the twilight hour,' said Eva, with a faint smile. 'It
sometimes makes one sad.'

'There is no sadness where there is sympathy,' said Tancred, in a low
voice. 'I have been, I am sad, when I am alone: but when I am with you,
my spirit is sustained, and would be, come what might.'

'And yet----' said Eva; and she paused.

'And what?'

'Your feelings cannot be what they were before all this happened; when
you thought only of a divin