nger that haunted me long after the thunders of the
cataract had ceased to reverberate on the ear? Where had I seen a
countenance and figure resembling his? Why did I feel an irresistible
desire to check the rolling wheels that bore me every moment further
from that stately form with its crown of living snow?

"How long will you remain in that uncomfortable position?" asked Ernest.
The spell was broken. I turned, and met the glance that needed no
explanation. This earnest scrutiny of a stranger excited his
displeasure; and I did not wonder, when I thought of the strange
fascination I had experienced. I blushed, and drew my veil over my
face,--resolving henceforth to set a guard over my eyes as well as my
lips. It was the first dark-flashing glance I had met since I had left
Grandison Place. It was the last expiring gleam of a baleful flame. I
knew it must be; and, leaning back in the carriage, I sunk into one of
those reveries which I used to indulge in childhood,--when the gates of
sunset opened to admit my wandering spirit, and the mysteries of
cloud-land were revealed to the dream-girl's eye.

CHAPTER XLVI.

The very evening after our return, while Dr. Harlowe was giving an
account of his stewardship, and congratulating Edith and myself on the
bloom and animation we had acquired, a gentleman was announced, and
Richard Clyde entered. The heart-felt, joyous welcome due to the friend
who is just returned from a foreign land, greeted his entrance. Had I
known of his coming, I might have repressed the pleasure that now
spontaneously rose; but I forgot every thing at this moment, but the
companion of my childhood, the sympathizing mourner by my mother's
grave, the unrequited lover, but the true and constant friend. He was so
much improved in person and manners; he was so self-possessed, so manly,
so frank, so cordial! He came among us like a burst of sunshine; and we
all--all but _one_--felt his genial influence. He came into the family
like a long absent son and brother. Why could not Ernest have welcomed
him as such? Why did he repel with coldness and suspicion the honest,
ingenuous heart that longed to meet his with fraternal warmth and
confidence? I could not help drawing comparisons unfavorable to Ernest.
He, who had travelled through the same regions, who had drank of the
same inspiring streams of knowledge as the young student, who came fresh
and buoyant from the classic halls where he had himself gained h