thing been able to retain him, nature would.

Thanks to the clearness of the nights which permitted him to travel, he
soon reached Stockholm, where he embarked on the Lubeck steamer, went to
see his mother, and hurried to La Vendee, where he joined the flag he had
come so far to stand beneath.

During his voyage, he wrote more than once to his uncle. Three weeks,
however, rolled by and they received no news. M. de Vermondans complained
of his silence--Alete sought to excuse him. Ebba suffered in silence.
After the departure of her cousin, the delicate young girl had sunken
into a state of sadness which daily assumed a more dangerous character.
She loved to sit alone, looking toward the south, as if there lay her
last hope. She sometimes tried to read, but from her very look it was
plain that her mind was unoccupied. If she saw her father, she sought to
smile and appear gay to soothe him; as soon, however, as he left, she
became prostrate again. Her cheeks grew thin and flushed, she was ill,
and the physicians were sent for--one said she had a slow fever, another
that she was consumptive. Ebba carefully followed their advice, and did
all that her father and sister recommended. When alone, she shook her
head as if she thought all remedies in vain.

Two weeks passed without a word from Ireneus. What was he about? It was
Known that he had passed through Paris, and should be in La Vendee. Could
he not correspond with his friends? Could his letters have been
intercepted? Might he not already have fallen a victim to his chivalric
ardor, and be wounded, a prisoner, perhaps dead!

The post was looked for with anxiety. The newspapers were read anxiously.
Vain hope! those of Sweden gave very meager details of the legitimist
movement.

At last M. de Vermondans became angry and humiliated at suffering his
impatience to become manifest, and forbade Ireneus or La Vendee to be
mentioned. He could not, however, stifle thought in his own mind or in
Ebba's.

One morning the young girl arose in great distress, and with a feverish
agitation which made her look better. She dressed hastily, and went to
her father's room. She said she wanted to see her sister.

"Really," said the old man, deceived by this deceitful animation, and
quivering with joy at the idea of her recovery. "Do you wish to go? I
will go with you."

He hurried to the stable, had his horse harnessed, and in a few minutes,
seated in his cabriolet, was crossing the fie