elay."

Gustave broke the seal with a trembling hand, while Bess, smiling with
hope, followed all her master's movements with staring eyes.

As he read the first lines the anxious youth grew pale; but as he went
on a tremor ran through all his limbs, till with a hysterical laugh and
clasped hands he exclaimed,--

"Thanks! thanks! Oh, God! she is restored to me!"

"Oh, sir, sir," cried Bess, "is it good news?"

"Yes! yes! rejoice with me! Lenora lives! I know where she is!" answered
Gustave, half mad with delight, running into the house and calling all
the servants. "Quick! quick! Have out the travelling-carriage and the
English horses! My trunk! my cloak! Quick! fly!"

He carried forth with his own hands a number of things that were
necessary for the journey. His fleetest horses were attached to the
vehicle; and, although they strained their bits and pawed the ground as
if impatient for the road, the postillion lashed them fiercely as they
dashed through the gateway.

In a moment, and almost as if by magic, the coach was on the road to
Antwerp and hidden from the staring crowd by a cloud of dust.

CHAPTER XI.

Suppose that we too take a trip in fancy to Nancy, in France, in search
of poor De Vlierbeck and his daughter. Let us wind through an immense
number of narrow streets in the quarter known as the Old Town and at
last halt at the door of an humble cobbler. This is the place. Pass
through the shop, mount the staircase; another story yet; open that
door, and here we are.

Every thing indicates poverty; but order and neatness preside over the
room. The curtains of the little bed are white as snow, the stove is
polished with black-lead till it shines, and the floor is sanded in
Flemish style. Mignonette and violets bloom in a box on the window-sill,
and a bird chirps in its cage above them. A young woman sits in front of
the window; but she is so intent on the linen she is sewing that no
other sound is heard in the silent room but that made by the motion of
her hands as they guide the needle. She is dressed in the plainest
garments; yet they are cut and put on so gracefully that one may declare
at a glance she is a lady.

Poor Lenora! And this was what fate had in store for thee! To hide thy
noble birth under the humble roof of a mechanic; to seek a refuge from
insult and contempt far from thy childhood's home; to work without
relaxation; to fight against privation and want, and to sink at last
int