rendered his presence in the house like
that of a perpetual sunbeam. We all wondered, after a little while, what
we had done before Luis came among us. He was as a son to Sir James;
Miss Patricia softened to this new and pleasing interest in her
colorless existence as I could not have believed it was in her
fossilized nature to do; Miss Henderson became animated, almost young,
under the reviving influence of the youth and joyousness of our new
inmate; and I own that I speedily attached myself with a warm and
affectionate regard to the happy, unselfish nature that seemed to
brighten all who came near it.

"But the most remarkable effect of the presence of Don Luis de Cabral
among us was visible in Miss Collingham. 'Love at first sight,' often
considered as a mere phrase, was, in the case of these two young
creatures, an unmistakable reality. From the moment of their first
meeting, the cousins were mutually drawn toward each other; and seeing
the bright and wonderful change wrought by the presence of Don Luis in
Blanche Collingham, I could not but remember, with the interest that
attaches to a curious psychological phenomenon, the words she uttered in
her trance on the eve of his arrival. 'Life, light, and liberty,'
indeed, appeared given to all that was best and brightest in her nature.
Her health improved visibly, and her beauty, always touching, became
radiant in its full development. My duties toward her were now merely
nominal; and when, about two months later, Sir James announced to me her
approaching marriage, and confessed that it was with this object he had
invited Don Luis to come and make the acquaintance of his English
relations, the strong opinions I entertained against the marriage of
first cousins, and also on the especial inadvisability of any project of
marriage in the case of Miss Collingham, could not prevent my hearty
rejoicing in the fair prospect of happiness in which two persons who
deeply interested me were indulging.

"Winter set in early and severely that year among our northern hills,
and with a view to Blanche's removal from its withering influence, which
I always considered prejudicial to her, the preparations for the
marriage were hurried on, and the ceremony was fixed to take place about
the middle of December. The travelling-carriage which was to convey the
young couple on their way southward was to arrive at the nearest
railway-station--then more than thirty miles distant--a week before