ll bear, and their
stock of diamonds was waxing very low and needed replenishment. Paulett
continued busy preparing water from part of those that remained, after
his wife and children were asleep. His own frame scarcely felt the
exertion of the journey, and he was full of the thoughts with which the
approaching sight of what had been once the great metropolis filled him.
The vast untenanted dwelling-place, the solitude of the habitation of
crowds, the absence of mind and talent from the scene they had so
filled; all these things excited his feelings, and gaining ground in the
solitude of the night he felt at last that he could not willingly delay
his first meeting with the bereaved city, and that he should be pleased
to have an opportunity of indulging alone the highly-wrought emotion
with which he expected the sight of it. Accordingly, when the light
began to break, he wrote word to Ellen that she should wait for him a
few hours, and that he would be back again in that time to lead her and
the children to their journey's end; and then, softly leaving the house,
set forward eagerly on his way.

It was evening before he returned. He came in pale and excited; he took
his children in his arms as usual, and seemed like one upon whom a thing
which he has seen has made a deep impression, but who either doubts the
power of words to convey the same impression, or thinks that he himself
is over-excited by it.

"Ellen," he said at last, "London is burned to the ground."

The sudden flush on her face, and her clasped hands, while she spoke
not, showed that the event touched her, too, as deeply as him; and then
he went on freely--

"Oh, Ellen! if you had seen it! It stands there, all in ruins--the whole
city in ruins! It has been the work of some great storm which fired it
when all were gone or dead; for there has been no pulling down, no
pillage, no aid, no attempt to stop the fire! All the palaces, all the
museums, all the stores of learning and art, the streets, the crowded
houses; they are gone, Ellen--they are all gone!"

His wife had never before in all their misery seen him so deeply
moved--so nearly overpowered by any thing that had occurred. His
excitement communicated itself to her, and she caught the full bearing
of his narration. She felt for the long ages of story, and the monuments
of human skill, buried in the great city. Irretrievable ruin! The work
which men, and years, and glowing knowledge, had slowly raised