said, "He is
better--out of danger."

"And his father?"

"Better as his son is better. And what will you give to Henry? A
souvenir from you will be a consolation so dear and precious!"

"My father, offer him my _prie-Dieu_. Alas! I have often watered
it with my tears when begging from Heaven for strength to forget
Henry, as I was unworthy of his love."

"How happy it will make him to see that you have had one thought
of him!"

"As to the asylum for the orphans and young girls abandoned by
their parents, I should wish, my dear father, that--"

Here Rodolph's letter was broken off by these words, almost
illegible:

"Clemence, Murphy will conclude this letter! I am lost,--bereft
of sense! Ah, the thirteenth of January!"

At the end of this letter Murphy had written as follows:

_Madame_:--By the order of his royal highness I complete this
sorrowful recital. The two letters of monseigneur will have
prepared your royal highness for the overwhelming news I have to
communicate. Three hours since, whilst monseigneur was writing
to your royal highness, I was waiting in the antechamber for a
letter to be despatched by a courier, when suddenly I saw the
Princess Juliana enter in the greatest consternation.

"Where is his royal highness?" she said to me, in an agitated
voice.

"Writing to the grand duchess," I replied.

"Sir Walter," she said, "you must inform monseigneur of a
terrible event. You are his friend,--you should tell him; from
you the blow may be less terrible!"

I understood all, and thought it most prudent to charge myself
with the distressing intelligence. The superior having added
that the Princess Amelie was sinking gradually, and that
monseigneur must hasten to receive his daughter's last sigh, I
went into the duke's room, who saw how pale I was.

"You have some bad news for me?"

"Terrible, monseigneur! But courage! Courage!"

"Ah, my forebodings!" he exclaimed; and, without adding a word,
he ran to the cloisters. I followed him.

From the apartment of the superior, the Princess Amelie had been
conveyed to her cell, after her last interview with monseigneur.
One of the sisters watched over her, and at the end of an hour
she perceived that the Princess Amelie's voice, who spoke to her
at intervals, was weaker, and more and m