suddenly disappeared, the daughter of Cormac aud overdone by numbers. Still, though op"He looked,' said the boy, a fitting pressed, the noble youth fought gallantly; mate to share the fortunes of such a gallant at last a felon-shot stretched him on the comrade. Less by half the head, his air and earth, and his recreant assassin placed his bearing were gentle, free, and soldierly. At coward foot upon his prostrate rival. He times upon his comrade's brow I marked a scowled on the dying knight-' Was not my "At midnight, the armed band and their trace of care, and more than once a sigh bullet, in this wild glen, young Sasenach, aged prisoner quietly debarked; the galley escaped, called up by some unhappy recollec truer than thine among the moonlit rocks of ere morning broke was hauled upon the tion; but his friend appeared like one on yonder islands? Her who slighted me for beach, and no sign that anything extraordi-whom the world would frown in vain, whose thee thou shalt never see again; and, marknary had recently occupied the O'Malleys merry eye fortune herself could never dim, me! ere a year rolls over, Connell Mac-was to be observed. The only domestic event and who with bold heart and ready hand mahon shall share that proud one's bed, or which caused attention was that the orphan would win his road or perish. Often his he shall sleep as lonely as thyself, my fallen daughter of De Lacy was baptized with due fixed gaze made me turn aside, and more enemy!'-And thou didst strive to keep thy formalities, and that the lady of Clare Island than once I thought that neither dumbness promise, as yonder shorn wretch'—and she herself underwent a long and rigid course of nor disguise concealed my sex from his susspurned a corpse with her foot, whose mu- penance—but none knew, and none asked picion.' tilated head proclaimed him the Macmahons' wherefore." envoy, when Connell sent his last insulting message—' proved to his cost. Yet thou shalt keep thy promise, and sleep, if the sea be deeper than the shrine of our Lady of Grace, lowlier than thy fallen enemy. He died upon his hed-a bosom that loved but as the descriptive part,-it is a caricature of whether in his subordinate rank he held the him, and ne'er shall love another, pillowed the style introduced by Walter Scott, and due place that birth and lineage had designed his drooping head. These lips received his which every romancer since his time has him for. He bore himself respectfully when parting sigh. Five hundred clansmen stood around his bier. Massos were sung, and nought that could honour his gallant corpse was forgotten. What will his murderer's fate be? Look, Connell Macmahon, see thou the halter swinging from yon ruined window? There read thy doom-thine shall be a felon's death-thine shall be a felon's grave!' "She waved her hand: without a moment's respite the wretched murderer was placed beneath the ruins. The fatal cord was bound about his neck, and in a few minutes Connell Macmahon was a dead man. We doubt which was most creditable to this redoubtable lady, the christening or the killing. The dialogue in this book is not so good thought it necessary to adopt, whether his we will quote the following conversation between two young ladies, who are in a One of them, Inez, who objects to marry "Ah! hadst thou known him whom I "Dear lady, thy own gallant appeared this very night before my imagination every time I served the board or filled the gobiet for the stranger. His face was like that portrait; his form such has thou hast painted his. Would thou hadst seen him, and that thy fearful grand-dame had not sent thee from the hall.' “While the deed of death was transacting the Lady Grace issued her command for the removal of the bodies, and they were accordingly borne to the landing-place, and committed to the deep. The skiff that transported them when living from the galley, was now employed to convey their corpses to an ocean grave. Last of the band, the chief, when life was extinct, was rowed from the shore, the murderer's body sank in the deep sea, and the last chief of the Macmahons perished, the victim of a wo-doorway is, his white plume swept it; and man." "Taking the vessel that had borne the Macmahons to their fate in tow, the galley stood out to sea, to gain an offing from the land; the bark was next scuttled, and, being deeply ballasted with stones, she soon filled rapidly. When nearly sinking, a match was applied to the sails and rigging, which, being coated with tar and grease, instantly caught fire, and blazed furiously. She was then abandoned, and in less than a quarter of an hour the scathed hull sunk in the depths of the ocean, and was hidden by the same waves that rippled over the mangled corpses of her crew. "While the galley of Clare Island stood out from the blazing wreck, the lady watched the progress of its destruction; but when the waters filled the hull, and the flames "Is he of goodly presence ?' asked the lady with indifference. "Was there not a third?' enquired the fair girl. "There was-and how shall I describe him? Less than either of his masters, his countenance was of that extraordinary cha◄ racter which made it difficult to decide addressed by either of the knights, but at times, as he did the offices of attendant at the board, there was a newness in his style of service, that would insinuate he was un practised in the task, and that the hand which filled the wine-cup would better rein a steed or wield a brand. At whiles he eyed the Ban Dunagha with searching side-looks that were unfriendly and suspicious, but as But the strangest portion of the tale is yet I remarked, he ever evaded her scrutiny. untold. When all had retired but the strangers, I, by the lady's orders, entered the room with wine-I had signed for and obtained permission to depart, when, springing from his seat, he seized my arm as I passed him, gazed on me with a look that seemed to penetrate my soul; then letting his hold loose, staggered to a chair, like one overwhelmed with some strange and terrible discovery; I dreaded farther consequences, and left the chamber, but through the door, which was not closed, observed that his masters noticed his agitation, and relieved him with a cup of wine. Was it not passing strange, that my appearance should so marvellously disorder one whom I had never seen when he doffed his cap, and stood before the before? And yet, Inez, there was recalled Ban Oussell, I never saw a statelier gallant. in the expression of the features bent on His soft but sparkling eye, his raven hair, mine a recollection-a dream-like memory his thin moustache, and winning smile, pro- of something I had seen before, which, to one claimed him a gentleman; and neither po-enveloped in mystery like me, could not but lished rapier nor knightly spurs were requisite be fraught with emotion.” ' to announce his nobility. But when he "His raven hair, his thin moustache, prospoke-when in soft and well-turned cour-claimed him a gentleman!" "His white tesy he thanked the Dark Lady for her wel-plume swept the doorway," "the hand come, every word thrilled through my very which filled the wine-cup could better rein a bosom, and I thought of the nameless gallant steed or wield a brand." It is a pity that who scaled the convent-walls at midnight, to sing beneath the casement of the pretty boarder, and swear to her, when she affected to awake, how fond and honourable was his 6 ""Of right noble,' said the boy; as he entered the chamber of state, lofty as the love.' "Stop, dear Florence, thou but openest the wound anew, when these minutes of past happiness are recalled. Well, and how seemed the knight's companion ?' authors insist on this bombastic way of talking, and fancy that they give us fine ideas, when they are only dealing out fine words. We would lay a wager that no two women of any age or country ever addressed each other in language like this, unless they were two sentimental ladies' maids at their tea, or two tipsy actresses over their cups. The following pretty ballad (from the Irish, the author adds in a note,) is in much and has given to each a language-sometimes | leaves of the oak and beech-trees, or hunta little forced perhaps, and peculiar, but al- the-hare along the surface of the still waters; better taste,247 " "The stag will rest the foray o'er, The poetical imitation of Scott is far more successful than the prose parody: witness another little ballad on the subject of "O'Neal. "The song is hushed in Bala's hall, °་*t ! "The day will come-the day will come→→ Towards the close of the volume the Dark are happy ever after. The Story without an End. Translated ways benevolent, graceful, and poetic. "There was once a little child who lived sometimes quietly watched the sunbeams as they flew busily from moss to flower, and from flower to bush, and shed life and But at night, she said, warmth over all. the moonbeams glided softly around the wood, and dropped dew into the mouths of all the thirsty plants, and when the dawn pelted the slumberers with the soft roses of heaven, some of the half-druuken flowers looked up and smiled, but most of them could not so much as raise their heads for a long, long time." Our little wanderer proceeds on his way, holding discourse with all created things, which each answer him after their kind; thus, coming to the bank of a river, a drop of water speaks to him: "A long while ago,' said the drop of water, I lived with my countless sisters, in the great ocean, in peace and unity: we had all sorts of pastimes: sometimes we mounted up high into the air and peeped at the stars, then we sank down deep below, and looked how the coral-builders work till they are tired, that they might reach the light of day at last; but I was conceited, and thought myself much better than my sisters; and so, one day, when the sun rose out of the sea, a mountain, and so I escaped. Now I clung fast to one of his hot beams, and thought that now I should reach the stars and become one of them; but I had not ascended far, when the sunbeam shook me off, and, in spite of all I could say or do, let me fall into a dark cloud, and soon a flash of fire darted through the cloud; and now I thought I must surely die, but the whole Lady loses all her ferocity, gives up her mur- once turned his eyes upwards to the blue cloud laid itself down softly upon the top of derous habits, becomes truly religious, and heavens: at length, however, a complete occupies herself with doing good to all the change came over him, and, instead of thought I should remain hidden, when all other persons introduced in the book. The crawling spiritless about the dirty earth, half on a sudden I slipped over a round pebble, two heroes marry the two heroines, retire to dreaming, he all at once awaked as out of a/and fell from one stone to another down into their estates, become fathers of families, and deep sleep, and how he would rise into the the depths of the mountain, till at last it air; and it was his greatest joy sometimes was pitch dark, and I could neither see nor to play with the light, and to reflect the hea- hear anything: then I found indeed that vens in the bright eyes of his wings,-some-pride goeth before a fall,' resigned myself from the German. By Sarah Austin. Lon-times to listen to the soft language of the to my fate, and, as I had already laid aside don: 1834. Effingham Wilson. flowers, and catch their secrets. Such talk all my unhappy pride in the cloud, my porIn a preceding page we have given some ac- delighted the child, and his breakfast was count of a metrical translation of the "Pil- the sweeter to him, and the sunshine on grim's Progress: the beautiful little book leaf and flower seemed to him more bright before us is another allegory, composed for and cheering; but, when the bee had flown the same good purpose which inspired John off to beg from flower to flower, and the Bunyan, but written by one whose intentions butterfly had fluttered away to his playfelare quite as noble, whose views far more lows, the dragon-fly still remained poised on general, and whose thoughts are at least as a blade of grass. Her slender and burnished poetical as those of the stern old blacksmith. body, more brightly and deeply blue than the The one endeavoured to represent nature deep blue sky, glistened in the sunbeam, as odious, the other to depict it as beautiful: and her net-like wings laughed at the flowthe puritan bid man shut his eyes on the ers because they could not fly, but must earth and things earthly, and turn them to- stand still and abide the wind and the rain. wards a future life, or rather, towards a fu-The dragon-fly sipped a little of the child's ture punishment; the kindly German poet endeavours to show that the work of nature is not so contemptible as some sectarians would have us to suppose; and that the earth and its creatures are something better than a mere foundation for man to build his He has wished to draw sermons and morals from stones and running brooks, sins upon. clear dew-drops aud blue violet honey, and tion was now the salt of humility; and, after "But hardly had she done, when the root of a forget-me-not caught the drop of water by her hair and sucked her in, that she might become a floweret, and twinkle brightly as blue star on the green firmament of earth. a "And as the child sat there, a little mouse rushed from among the dry leaves of the former year, and a lizard half glided from a crevice in the rock, and both of them fixed their bright eyes upon the little stranger; and, when they saw that he designed them no evil, they took courage and came nearer to him. I should like to live with you,' said the child to the two little creatures in a soft subdued voice, that he might not frighten | delights of early love, of wandering together "Yes,' said the mouse, it would be very well if all the plants bore nuts and mast instead of those silly flowers, and, if I were not obliged to grub underground in spring, and gnaw the bitter roots, whilst they are dressing themselves in their fine flowers and flaunting it to the world, as if they had endless stores of honey in their cellars.' a against the frivolities of life, hence it becomes apparent as we read, and we may relish it, and laugh without the trouble of thinking. In his last attempt, unfortunately, we miss that power of humorous sketching which has amused us so often before: we have scarcely a vestige of that talent which has hitherto made him as an author, what Cruikshank is as an artist-an inimitable Surely never was more exquisite poetry caricaturist, whose excellence is best shown than this we have just quoted. For her ex-by exciting ridicule without altogether sacricellent taste in selecting this fable, and for ficing truth. If it were as well worth while the admirable manner of rendering it, too to point out where merit does not exist, as great praise cannot be given to the translator, it always is to show where it does, we might if this may be called a translation, which is be inclined to draw attention to the different faithful and poetical copy of a noble pic- characters in Snowdon; but, as the one is as ture, which genius alone could execute or profitless and unpleasant as the other is the attempt. reverse, we shall abstain from any minute The book (the most beautiful as to ex-dissection of the subject. There are, in our terior decoration which we have ever seen,) judgment, but two really good scenes in the is adorned by a number of woodcuts, after story; the one describing an adventure in a designs by Harvey, which, to our thinking, Richmond omnibus, and the breaking-down were never surpassed. There are some three of the same; and the other, a Richmond or four of these drawings which must much visit, and the breaking-off of a marriage. exalt that gentleman's already high reputa-Lord Snowdon figures in both. The first tion, and which no other living artist could has been selected for an extract by one or have executed as he has done. It is useless two of our contemporaries; the other we to attempt to describe these, or to praise shall appropriate, premising that his lordship, sufficiently them and the book which they whose every scheme has been frustrated just at the moment of its ripening, has been disappointed of the governor-generalship of India, for which he had ratted, by mi Whit-throws himself into his carriage to go and comfort himself in the society of his fu "Hold your tongue,' interrupted the lizard, pertly; do you think, because you are grey, that other people must throw away their handsome clothes, or let them lie in the dark wardrobe underground, and wear nothing but grey too? I am not so envious: the flowers may dress themselves as they like for me they pay for it out of their own pockets, and they feed bees and beetles from their cups; but, what I want to know is, of what use are birds in the world? Such a Auttering and chattering truly from morning early to evening late, that one is worried and stunned to death, and there is never a day's peace for them, and they do nothing but snap up the flies and the spiders out of the mouths of such as I; for my part, I should be perfectly satisfied provided all the birds in Love and Pride. By the Author of "Sayings nisters going out of office, and that he the world were flies and beetles.' "The child changed colour, and his heart was sick and saddened, when he heard their evil tongues; he could not imagine how any body could speak ill of the beautiful flowers, ór scoff at his beloved birds. He was waked out of a sweet dream, and the wood seemed to him lonely and desert, and he was ill at ease; he started up hastily, so that the mouse and the lizard shrunk back alarmed, and did not look around them till they thought themselves safe out of the reach of the stranger with the large severe eyes. illustrate. and Doings." London: 1833. "Richmond achieved, the hill partly mounted, the marquess was at the door of Lady Katharine's extremely pretty villa; the carriage was opened, and out sprang (with an effort, it must be confessed,) the matured yet expectant lover. WE ought perhaps to apologize for not hav-ture wife, Miss Oldham. Mr. Frederick ing given a second notice of this work last Richardson, whose name is mentioned, is a week, as in our first we promised to do: our young cornet who has long been a perfect excuse is, that we found the story of Snow-pet of her family. don to be only not as trumpery as the Widow, "Away went the horses, and away went and having therefore no sort of claim upon the marquess, laid back in his carriage and our attention, beyond the promise our good-hidden from the public gaze, which, by-thenature had seduced us into, we considered it way, was not directed towards him. No might well yield to better metal, and wait object attracted his attention during the our convenience. Indeed, but that we had whole trajet, except indeed the spot never to so engaged our word, we should not have be forgotten by him on Barnes-common, "The child walked forth alone upon the thought ourselves justified in taking up our where he had ventured into that dreadful fresh dewy corn-field: a thousand little suns valuable columns, and the time of our read-receptacle for the living from which he had glittered in his eyes, and a lark soared war-ers, in any further observations on "Love been so painfully ejected in St. James'sbling above his head; and the lark proclaimed and Pride." As it is, we must make the street. the joys of the coming year, and awakened best of a disagreeable task; and we shall not endless hopes while she soared, circling be more severe in the performance than is higher and higher, till at length her song was like the soft whisper of an angel holding converse with the spring under the blue arch of heaven. The child had seen the earthcoloured little bird rise up before him, and it seemed to him as if the earth had sent her forth from her bosom as a messenger to carry her joy and her thanks up to the sun, because he had turned his beaming countenance again upon her in love and bounty. And the lark hung poised above the hope-giving field, and warbled her clear and joyous song: she sang of the loveliness of the rosy dawn, and the fresh brilliancy of the earliest sunbeams, of the gladsome springing of the young flowers, and the vigorous shooting of the corn; and her song pleased the child beyond measure; but the lark wheeled in higher and higher circles, and her soug sounded softer and sweeter: and now she sang of the first absolutely essential to a regard for truth. not playing waltzes, nor, strangest of all, was Lady Katharine talking; one or two servants whom his lordship encountered slunk out of the way; and Miss Oldham's maid, who was looking over the balustrades of the gallery into the hall, rushed into one of the bedrooms which opened into it the moment she caught Lord Snowdon's eye. "The marquess proceeded to the drawing-room; nobody was there-in the boudoir - nobody-in the billiard-room, nobody. Happy circumstance,' thought his lordship, Mr. Frederick Richardsou is absent to-day at least; and besides getting rid of his frivolity and impertinence, I shall escape the horror of being obliged to explain to him why I cannot fulfil my promise of putting him on my staff.' poor dear Doctor Simpson used to tell me- "What is the matter?' said the mar- "His lordship promenaded the rooms-shion. looked at himself in every glass, even in a small round one in a green morocco case, which lay upon one of the three-hundred-and sixty-five well-covered tables which were scattered about the apartments. "A servant entered the boudoir, and mentioned that Lady Katharine would be down as soon as possible. "Is Miss Oldham at home?' said the marquess.' "I don't know, I'm sure, my lord,' said the man, with an expression of countenance which clearly indicated that he did. "The marquess sauntered to a sofa, and took up a newspaper: there it was again! the same infernal 'jeu d'esprit' upon his tumble in the omnibus. He seized the journal and stuffed it into his pocket, hoping by this magnanimous act to check the circulation of his disgrace through the servants' hall and housekeeper's room, as if all the underlings of the household did not make a point of reading the newspapers long before they permitted Lady Katharine to see them. "After a considerable delay, for which he could not account, Lady Katharine's maid appea red, with her eyes very red indeed, and begged his lordship to come up to her lady's room. "What, is Lady Katharine ill?' said his lordship. Ill, my lord?' said the maid; 'nothing can be worse. You got my lady's letter, my lord ?' "Letter! no-what letter?' said the marquess. "My lady will tell you all herself-oh, dear! oh, dear!' said the unhappy soubrette, 'what shall we do?' to understand-for I can understand very little you say that your daughter, my intended wife, has eloped with Mr. Frederick Richardson ? "That's it,' said Lady Katharine; 'what a deal of trouble you have saved me; yes"Matter!' continued Lady Katharine, that's the whole of it-as Shakspeare says, oh, that girl !—well-Elizabeth, to be sure, brevity is the soul of wit,' and'I never could have thought it !-though I do "Wit! madam,' said the marquess, recollect old Mrs. Bamfoozle, of Dragel-what do you mean by wit? are you in your thorp-the place her husband bought of my senses, and venture to trifle with me under poor uncle George-she afterwards married such circumstances?' Lees, the great wine-merchant. By-theway, he failed for four hundred thousand pounds, and paid sixteen and ninepence in the pound-she used to say to me-oh, dear me-what shall I do ? "But, dear Lady Katharine, what is it?" """Gone whither?' said the marquess. 666 "Yes! but what of Elizabeth?' repeated his lordship. 6 "Oh! then,' said Lady Katharine, 'you did'nt get my letter? dear me! I sent it by Robert the groom-that man never failed me before-I had him from Colonel Windmill, your friend, Lord Snowdon-with a very good character. By-the-way, his wife told me - but never mind — Elizabeth is gone, my dear lord!' "Gone where, I ask? repeated the "Trifle !' said Lady Katharine, 'I have no desire to trifle. I tell you the truth-and that my poor dear mother used to say-bythe-way, she was one of the first women who left off wearing powder-she used to say' "I have not the slightest inclination to hear what she used to say, ma'am,' said the marquess; it seems that I have no farther business here at any rate. I conclude I shall find your letter in Grosvenor-square when I return. That I am surprised at such a gross and glaring want of taste in your daughter, I admit, but do not suffer yourself to believe, ma'am, that I am in the slightest degree mortified.' "Oh! I dare say not,' said Lady Katharine; the truth is, as my uncle George used to say-he, poor dear man, lost his leg at Walcheren-by-the-way, what a lamentable affair that was' "Madam! I cannot any longer listen to this gibberish,' said the marquess; 'your daughter must be mad.' "So all girls are when they are in love,' said her ladyship; she cares about nothing but pleasing herself, as Miss Everingham told her--dear, good soul she is that when Lord Malvern was himself so desperately in love with her' “❝ Malvern ! in love with whom, ma'am ?' said the marquess. """Elizabeth!" said Lady Katharine. "My son ! ma'am,' said Lord Snowdon, The marquess, considerably mystified by is it possible that I have only now discoall these appearances, and thinking, by Eli-marquess. vered-and that at the moment in which I zabeth's non-appearance, that her mother "Oh! heaven knows,' said her mother; least expected it-the cause of the apparently was seriously ill, followed the lovely Thais' you killed her with talking about India. groundless hostility of Malvern to my marwho led the way' in considerable anxiety; By-the-way, if you never had got that ap-riage with your daughter? Is it possible that not that he would have cared in the slightest pointment, you would not have lost her: she degree if Lady Katharine had been gathered could not bear the tigers, and the ships, and to her fathers or mothers that very day, ex- the hyenas, and the nabobs, and all that. cept inasmuch as such an event as her death Mr. Anderson, of Cockelford, told her such would naturally postpone that for the im- a story of a kangaroo'mediate occurrence of which he was now so anxious. He entered the apartment redolent with eau à Bruler, eau de Cologne, and all the perfumes of Arabia.' "Lost Elizabeth!' said the marquess, how lost her?' "She's gone, my dear lord! ruined past redemption !'said Lady Katharine, 'run "Lady Katharine,' said the marquess, away with Frederick Richardson last night approaching the bed upon which her lady--by-the-way, what a night it was for them ship lay extended, this is a sorry sight; I-rained so hard-1'⚫ trust you are not seriously ill ?' "What, eloped ?' "Exactly,' replied Lady Katharine; gone for good-how or which way, Heaven knows! She left me a note-it is enclosed in my letter to you-describing her horror at the match. 1 ought to have known it would not answer, Frederick and she were such friends. To be sure, as Mr. Losh said human nature can be so depraved! that you, conscious as you must have been, by the confession you have this instant made, of the existence of such a feeling on the part of Alfred, should have sanctioned the negociations which have been going on for the bestowal of her hand upon me, and which are only now, providentially, I must say, broken off, by her own repugnance to so unnatural an union ?' "Oh dear!' said Lady Katharine, you are quite mistaken! she never cared for Malvern-never a bit but she was desperately in love with Frederick Richardson; and so' “Oh, my dear lord!' said Lady Katharine; leave the room, Hobkirk-shut the door-go away! What am I to do? what am I to say?—I remember well enough-I was very young at the time, when my poor grandmother, Lady Manningtree-she was the sister, you know, my lord, of the famous Sir Tilbury Todd-that man who-oh, dear-but the' me, what shall I do? I don't know as “Madam!' said the marquess, am Itharine, have been an accessory to the fraud Frederick, ma'am,' said the marquess, repeating the word in a tone precisely similar to that in which she uttered it, and wholly unconscious in his rage of either what he spoke or acted, it is clear that I have been made a dupe, and you, my Lady Ka Console yourself with the reflection, that 'but I am sure that some strange catastrophe "Saying which his lordship bounced out of the room, and hurrying downstairs, strode across the ball out of the door, out of the gates, out of the grounds, and away to the Star and Garter (a sign under which, although destined temporarily to live there, it did not appear he had been born,) where his horses and carriage had been put up, and whence in a few minutes he took his departure for London." This is amusing enough. It is the best scene in the book, and we do not altogether say so because it is the last. "Some minutes after, Noun, the Creole attendant of Madame Delmare, appeared; she came from one of the darkest walks of the park, and asked with much anxiety whether Madame Delmare felt herself more than ordinarily indisposed. “She is very ill,' said Sir Ralph. "And they went together to Madame Delmare, who lay fainting on the sofa; both were prodigal of their attentions towards the invalid-the gentleman performing his part with goodwill, but with no particular skill, the maid with all the address and affection of a woman. "Noun was the foster-sister of Madame "What business have you here, madame ? Only to repair the wrong which you have a done,' replied Indiana. "And, advancing towards the body with a courage which no other person in the room had displayed, she opened the large cloak in which it was covered, when, instead i of the figure they had all expected to see, they found a young man of noble features and handsome dress one of his hands was slightly wounded by the shot, but his torn garments and several violent contusions showed that he had suffered a heavy fall. "The fact is,' said Lelievre, that the rogue was on the top of the wall when my master fired, and he fell twenty feet at least; when he was once down, you may fancy that he did not think of getting up again,' “This is strange,' said the colonel; ' the man is well dressed, bis purse is full of goldif he be dead, madame, it is not my fault ; examine his hand, aud, if you find a single grain of lead’— “Sir,' replied his wife, I should be glad to believe you guiltless.' "In the meantime the body was carried. into a bedroom, and proper aid was procured. One of the servants declared that the thief was as like as two peas to a M. de Ramiere, who had lately come to live in the neighbourhood, and who had been seen talking to Mademoiselle Noun at the last fete. Delmare; and these two young persons, who Indiana. Par G. Sand. Bruxelles: 1833. 6 "What foolish fears,' said Sir Ralph, who was tired of the scene; your thief will turn out most likely a rabbit.' "From time to time the barking of a dog mingled with the faint moaning of the breeze as it passed through the crevices of the doorway, and with the noise of the rain, marching with a firm step towards the door, "No, Ralph,' said Madame Delmare, as it lashed the panes of the windows. ItI tell you that human blood has been spilt!' was one of the dullest evenings that Madame Delmare had as yet passed in her little manor of Brie. "And then I know not what strange and vague oppression weighed on this delicate and susceptible soul: weak persons only live on terrors and presentiments, and Madame Delmare had all the superstitions of a Creole-certain sounds at night, certain appearances of the moon, made her believe in certain events and misfortunes; the darkness had for her an entire language of mysteries and phantoms, which she alone could interpret and connect with her sufferings and her fears. "You will call me mad again, Ralph,' she said, as she withdrew her hand from his, "Noun gave a piercing shriek, and fell fainting on her face. At this moment the voice of Lelievre was heard: Well aimed, colonel, the rogue is down!' Sir Ralph began to share the apprehensions of his cousin, and followed her into the garden: a few moments after they both returned, with the colonel and servant, who carried the body of a man. Why all this screaming and crying?' said the colonel with a rude exultation, the thing is but a joke; my gun was only charged with small shot, and I fancy the fellow tumbled more from fear than from hurt.' "Aud this blood, sir,' said Madame Delmare, bitterly, is it fear that makes this blood flow?' 666 "Comfort yourself, sir,' said Indiana, the man whom you shot will recover in a few days, at least, we hope so, though he has not yet been able to speak.' "This is not the question, madame,' said he; all that I ask is the name of this interesting invalid, and the reason for which he mistakes the wall of my park for the entrance to my house?' "Ralph for a moment, who was aware of his suspicions, turned calmly to Delmare, and merely pointed with his finger to the figure of Noun, who was standing beside the wounded man, with her hands clenched, her eyes haggard, her cheeks livid, immoveable from terror and despair.” Thus we are introduced to the chief cha racters of the piece. Our readers must be aware how difficult it is to render the peculiar terseness and the extreme delicacy of the language from which we translate: many thoughts and expressious, which in English appear strained and unnatural, are perfectly simple in French; and an account of this novel, and our translations from it, must be considered as a rude abridgment, not as a faithful paraphrase. M. de Ramiere, the brilliant and fashionable Parisian, had been caught by the beauty of Noun, and the poor West Indian, as in many a novel, and many a true story, had believed, and yielded. An assignation with her had induced him to scale the walls, and had produced the results which we have related above. |