he
solitary servant of the sage had admitted him; he had proceeded, without
ceremony, to the well-remembered apartment.

As he now stood gazing on the pair, he observed with an inward smile,
how exactly their present attitudes (as well as the old aspect of the
scene) resembled those in which he had broken upon them on the last
evening he had visited that chamber; the father bending over the old,
worn, quaint, table; and the daughter seated beside him on the same low
stool. The character of their countenances struck him, too, as wearing
the same ominous expression as when those countenances had chilled him
on that evening. For Volktman's features were impressed with the sadness
that breathed from, and caused, his prohibition to his daughter; and
that prohibition had given to her features an abstraction and shadow
similar to the dejection they had worn on the night we recur to.

This remembered coincidence did not cheer the spirits of the young
traveller; he muttered to himself; and then, as if anxious to break the
silence, moved forward with a heavy step.

Volktman started at the sound; and looking up, seemed literally
electrified by this sudden apparition of one whom he had so lately
expressed his desire to see. His lips muttered the intruder's name, one
well known to the reader (it was the name of Godolphin) and then closed;
but Lucilla sprang from her seat, and, clasping her hands joyously
together, darted forward till she came within a foot of the unexpected
visitor. There she abruptly arrested herself, blushed deeply, and stood
before him humbled, agitated, but all vivid with delight.

"What, is this Lucilla?" said Godolphin admiringly: "how beautiful she
is grown!" and advancing, he saluted, with a light and fraternal kiss,
her girlish and damask cheek: then, without heeding her confusion, he
turned to the astrologer, who by this time had a little recovered from
his amaze.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE EFFECT OF YEARS AND EXPERIENCE.--THE ITALIAN CHARACTER.

Godolphin now came almost daily to the astrologer's abode. He was
shocked to perceive the physical alteration four years had wrought in
his singular friend; and, with the warmth of a heart naturally kind,
he sought to contribute to the comfort and enjoyment of a life that was
evidently drawing to a close.

Godolphin's company seemed to give Volktman a pleasure which nothing
else could afford him. He loved to converse on the various incidents
that had occu