e, must have been
loveliness itself.--Vineyards, gardens, a bright stream, a rustic chapel
on a hill--every thing shaped for the delight of the eye! But a
desperate skirmish had occurred there between the retreating Republicans
and their pursuers, and all that man could ruin was ruined. The cottages
were all in ashes, the gardens trampled, the vineyards cut down for the
fires of the bivouac, the chapel was even smouldering still, and the
river exhibited some frightful remnants of what were once human beings.
Not a living soul was to be seen. A dog was stretched upon the ground,
tearing up with his paws what was probably the grave of his master. At
the sight of the escort, he howled and showed his teeth, in evident fury
at their approach; a dragoon fired his pistol at him--fortunately missed
him; and the dog bounded into the thicket. But when I looked back, I saw
him creep out again, and stretch himself howling upon the grave.

"I write these lines at long intervals, in fear, and only when the
escort are sleeping on their horses' necks, or eating their hurried
meals upon the grass.

"Last night the Royalist army crossed the Loire; and the firing was
continued until morning. The heights all seemed crowned with flame. The
forest in which we had stopped for the night was set on fire in the
conflict, and a large body of the Royalist cavalry skirmished with the
retreating Republicans till morning. It was a night of indescribable
terror; but my personal fears were forgotten in the sorrow for my
honoured and aged companion. She often fainted in my arms; and in this
wilderness, where every cottage is deserted, and where all is flight and
consternation even among the soldiery, what is to become of her? I gazed
upon her feeble frame and sinking countenance, with the certainty that
in a few hours all would be over. How rejoicingly would I share the
quiet of her tomb!"

My eyes filled, and my heart heaved, at a reality of wretchedness so
deep, that I could scarcely conceive it to have passed away. The paper
fell from my hands. My mind was in the forest. I saw the pursuit. The
firing rang in my ears; and in the midst of this shock of flying and
fighting men, I saw Clotilde wiping the dews of death from the brow of
her helpless relative.

The illusion was almost strengthened at this moment, by the flashing of
a strong and sudden light across the ceiling of the chamber, and the
trampling of a body of troops by torchlight, entering