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FÜRSTENRUHI E.

BY JOHN WILMER.

(Continued from page 757.)

THE Duke at that moment entered with the Prince, nd was in his most jovial humour.

"Well, fairest," he said, addressing his daughter-inlaw, with the flowery gallantry so much in vogue at the time," your fair namesake of Troy herself never caused more trouble than you have this day inflicted on me. I have been pestered to place, and brevet, and advance, and gratify, in every possible way, more people than I can remember."

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"And did your Highness take into consideration the petition of poor P—, whose sister requested my interference in his behalf?" said the Duchess. "I think it is their extreme poverty that makes them so pressing to get the young man into your guards. They know not how else to clothe and provide for him. His birth and connexion, I believe, are unexceptionable." Tut, tut, my dear," Serenissimo impatiently responded, "the poor devil has a squint that would drive a whole regiment to flight-of ladies, I mean, of course,' he added, with a jocular air. No, my dear, I'm very sorry for the poor youth, but it is not to be thought of; he is too plain. But I have named, instead, BTush! I know very well what you would say about that awkward affair he had the other day with L- He showed the white feather-there's no denying it; but he has a leg might do for an Apollo; and his valet gives the sweetest turn to his queue you ever saw."

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"But," ventured, timidly, Helena, "would these advantages avail against the enemy?" The Duchess' eye gave immediate notice of the impropriety of her interference; but Helena could not recall her words, and the Prince answered somewhat bitterly,

tain certain doubts as to their future happiness; that troubled the impassibility of mind it was the study of her life to preserve. The only person completely at ease was the Duke, who already beheld in imagination the christening of his son's eldest born. He seemed to tread on air, and was in such remarkable spirits, that, as he himself afterwards declared, he never had been more brilliant. He propounded to all who came near him his favourite questions about death and the dentist, and many more of the same sort, framing both question and answer at once, for there was not in the whole room such a novice as to presume to give the well-known response where it was so obviously not desired, Nor was he without a spice of sarcasm; he said of a young gentleman of small birth, but great wealth, and who, though somewhat awkward in person and bearing, yet managed to get a circle of admirers around him, that he strongly reminded him of the golden animal the Jews danced before in Bethel, but whose name he could not remember. "How very severe is Serenissimo to-night!" said

one.

"How delicate his satire !" echoed another. "Serenissimo is in high spirits this evening!" exclaimed a third.

"Is he?" was the whispered reply. "Well, he has need to be gay, for many are the reverse. Look at the Prince and Princess; they look as if they were about to enter their graves, instead of the marriage bed.

"I hope, my dear boy," observed the Duke, facetiously, to a youth about to start off to one of the universities, "you won't do like that student, who, on being reprimanded for his idleness, replied that he could find no season proper for study-winter was too cold-summer too warm-autumn too foggy-and spring too damp."

"Such avowals may be made en famille-we are too small Princes—our territories are too limited-our people too few-to dream of defence in case of invasion. In such a case nothing would remain to us but to make the best personal terms we could with the enemy, and let the rest take care of themselves." Helena sighed to think how limited was that great-minister, with a mysterious shake of his head. ness to which she was called to make so many sacrifices; but she was destined to drain the cup of disappointment to the dregs.

"Serenissimo surpasses himself to-night!" exclaimed the master of the ceremonies, enthusiastically. "You'll hear more by-and-bye," added the prime

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It was in vain that the court gave a grand dinner, whose ennui oppressed no one more than the givers themselves. In vain was the park lighted up with lamps of variegated colours-that pop-guns and crackers, the delight of every true-born German, were let off in quick succession that flaming hearts whirled round and round on the grass-those lodged in the bosoms of the young pair sunk at the sight to the freezing point. vain did the burghers of the town assemble before the palace with torches in every hand, to sing epithalamium to the new wedded couple-no smile visited the lips of either. The large saloon was almost full; the Duke having stretched a point on this occasion, looking more to numbers than to the eligibility of those invited. But though the room was tolerably crowded, no social warmth extended through the heterogeneous assembly; the chill at the heart of the new married pair seemed creep over all. The Duchess herself began to enter

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was he mistaken; for the Duke, turning to a gentleman who was greatly vexed that he had not obtained the title of counsellor he was ambitious of at a neighbouring court to which he belonged, said, by way of consolation :-" Never mind, my good friend, the Lord had twelve apostles, and there was never a counsellor among them."

"Serenissimo is quite astonishing! I do positively believe I never heard him utter this last saying before.” "But you may, perchance, have heard it elsewhere." "Hush! we are getting on treasonable ground." "But, see, the Prince is leading his bride to the balcony to greet the people; he takes her hand as though it were a burning coal he felt through her glove, which, you will observe, she has not removed."

This remark was received with a significant shrug of the shoulder.

At the sound of a mighty flourish of trumpets, the Princess was now handed to the apartment in which, according to the custom of the house, the bride was to pass her wedding night. The few ladies who composed

"Our prayers," put in, rather maliciously, one of the dames present, "are that your felicity may equal that of your immediate predecessor."

the court, with the Duchess at their head, conducted her | lived in great harmony, throughout peaceful times, and thither. It was in a remote part of the palace, of a date were blessed with a numerous progeny, reached a good much antecedent to the rest, and could only be reached | old age, and left great wealth behind them.” by traversing a long, dark, and narrow passage, connecting it with the main building. It was a large, desolate chamber, with a heavy chimney-piece, under whose ample canopy a whole party might have found room, and railed off in the middle by a low balustrade of richly-carved wood, painted white to match the panels of the room. A huge, antique bed, canopied by a heavy baldachin of dark green silk, with curtains and coverlid to match, which, together with the heavy drapery of the lofty windows, were all faded by timea stiff sofa-some prim, high-backed chairs-small, round, silver-framed mirrors, fixed at alternate intervals on the wall, betwixt massive silver sconces and artificial wreaths of myrtle flower. Such was the cheerless apartment into which she was ushered. The impression it produced was so disagreeable that Helena could not repress some visible signs of it.

"In this room," said the Duchess, taking her reluctant hand, and gently forcing the Princess forward, 66 many successive brides of this house have spent their wedding night. They have all, in due time, contributed to the continuance of this ducal house. May the same blessing attend you, my child." As she spoke, a slight tremor was perceptible in her voice.

"But I shall be afraid," timidly urged the Princess. "Your Highness will not be alone," insinuated the oldest of the dowagers; and the lady looked in vain for a blush in Helena's cheek; it rather paled beneath her gaze at these words.

"Yes," continued the Duchess, thoughtfully, as with her own hands she prepared to disrobe the bride-for etiquette allowed of it on this solemn occasion-" the first who occupied this room, not, indeed, temporarily, but during her whole life, was the Duchess Christiana Ulrica Philomena. She was the daughter of Ottocar, | tenth Duke, and of Engelbertha Emmanuela of Sistenheim."

"And she had no less than seven children," said one of the ladies, nervously, alarmed at the Duchess' mounting her hobby, for she was as weak on the chapter of genealogy as her husband was on that of witticisms.

"Then," continued the Duchess, the tide of recollection flowing in upon her, "there was Hildegarde Sybilla Maria Margaretta, the wife of Duke Amor, whose portrait hangs up in the gallery, and is not very unlike Princess Helena. What say you, Baroness Steinfelt ?"

"The Duke," answered the Baroness, mechanically giving utterance to what she had so often heard her mistress say, without being at first aware of the impropriety of doing so at the present moment, "had two lawful and fourteen illegitimate children." She stopped short in deep confusion, being made sensible of her error by a slight cough from one of her companions.

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"I should have expressed this feeling from the first," said the Duchess, whose pride intuitively taught her to parry every attack made upon it, "but that I remembered that one heir to a house like ours is by many to few. I had rather that it pleased Heaven to shower more blessings on the young couple in the way of s family than have fallen to our lot; and now, Hela, let me hang up your marriage wreath with my own hands."

As she spoke, she detached the myrtle wreath, which in Germany is worn by maidens of every condition a the altar, the symbol of purity, as is the orange flore in France, from Helena's heavy tresses, and placed i on the first vacant space between the mirrors. Helen watched her movements with an almost superstitios terror, at seeing herself thus, in some manner, asso ciated with the long-since departed, whose bridal wreaths, all faded as they were, still hung on the wall, whis they who had worn them lay mouldering in the val of the palace.

“And now," said the Duchess, pointing to the st where she had placed the wreath, "we stand side by side, my daughter."

These words were spoken with a depth of feeling that went to the poor young girl's heart. "Were she be ever thus," thought she.

The ladies soon withdrew, and Helena was at le free, and, throwing herself on the stiff sofa, she gazed wistfully around the cold, bleak apartment. But sp proaching footsteps soon roused her from her mediustions; the door opened, and the Prince made his appear ance with a bed-chamber light in his hand, and arraye. in a gorgeous robe de chambre, that permitted his native dignity of form to become more apparent than did the stiff uniform he generally wore; whilst Helena, v dishevelled hair, the rouge washed off her pale cheeks, her loose robe adhering but too faithfully to her very slender person, looked like some faded portrait in the family gallery just started from its frame. But th Prince paused not to observe her looks. Depositing h light at no great distance, he advanced towards h with much the same icy ceremoniousness he had hithert displayed, and thus addressed her—

"I think it fair, madam, to enlighten you as to real views and sentiments, in order at once to establish the footing on which we are to live together; so the we may hereafter be friends, though we never can le lovers."

After this exordium the Prince paused; but receiving no answer, continued in the same cold formal manner as before

"Most husbands of my rank feel, I am well aware, as little affection towards the brides which circumstances of policy or family motives thrust upon them as I de, madam, and yet do not feel called upon to proclaim it. I think otherwise. In fairness, you can no more expect my love than I can look for any in your heart for the unknown tyrant to whose hands chance and the will of others has consigued you. Therefore I do not fear in

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sulting your self-love by my candour, but, on the con- | least such was the fantastic notion she began to entertrary, hope to spare you many a pang in the future, by tain. Her eyes wandered from wreath to wreath on the telling you, from the first, that beyond the privileges wall, until the faded forms of those to whom they once attendant upon your title as mother of these lands,* belonged seemed ready to start from beneath them, to and, perchance, of its future ruler, you have nothing to punish her for her disrespect for their name and house, look for at my hands-that I will never allow you to in- which she would not condescend to continue. From the terfere with my conduct, public or private. Most sove- mirrors, too, strange faces seemed to peep; and, ever reigns act up to these principles without professing and anon, she fancied that she heard a faint rustling of them; I prefer not allowing you the slightest cause for the heavy damask curtains of the huge bed, and dared future recrimination." hardly look towards it, for fear of seeing-she herself knew not what. She would have called, or left the room, but too many prudential considerations forbade her so doing. She felt she must resist her growing weakness; but, struggle as she would, she could not overcome it so far as to venture behind the awful balustrade.

"It would have been more generous," said Helena, the latent pride of whose nature was roused, "to have told me all this before, not after marriage."

"Could I, or could you have resisted the will of our families?" said the Prince; "of what avail would it have been ?"

"Of what avail is it now?" said the Princess, petulantly.

"That you may not give way to any romantic notions with regard to myself, that could only end in disappointment."

To understand her state of mind, it is necessary to remember the proneness to superstition, and the belief in ghosts, which yet prevailed in the early part of the eighteenth century, and which, indeed, formed a prominent feature of the time. At last she made up her mind to court sleep where she lay, and accordingly assumed as convenient a posture for that purpose as the stiffness of the couch would permit; and resolutely shut

The Princess rose to her feet, and confronted the Prince with a calm dignity, surprising in one so young. "After what I have just heard, I think you had better retrace your steps to the apartment you have left-forting her eyes and ears to all imaginary sights and sounds, I, in turn, declare to you that on these terins I shall never be your wife but in name, nor do I take upon my head the sin of our broken vows. Go, Prince, I would

be alone."

For a moment surprise rooted the Prince to the spot, and kept him mute. As soon would the Sultan look forward to a revolt in the harem as did the Prince for any opposition in Helena. His will was law in his own esteem, and he had ever taught himself, in common with most tyrants, great or small, to consider a wife, whenever he should take one, only as the first of his slaves. He was then quite unprepared for Helena's spirit on this occasion, which the more astonished him from her excessive youth and timidity. But, though wayward and headstrong, he was not ungenerous; and so, after a few moments' deliberation with himself, he bowed with deeper respect than he had yet shown, and said :—

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It shall be as you please, madam. I have no right to be offended. It shall be my care so to arrange matters that my parents may be spared the sorrow, and you the annoyance, which would be the result of your strange resolution, should it come to their knowledge; and should you persevere in your present resolve, whenever I am free to do so that is, supposing the arrangement to meet your views-I shall get our union dissolved, and restore you to the liberty which you seem to value so highly."

The Princess bowed her thanks, and the Prince withdrew, half relieved, and half perplexed, by the turn matters had taken.

Indignation had made Helena bold; but now all was over, and the Prince gone, her courage faded away with her anger, and she felt truly miserable; but it was not so much the misery of the future as the gloom of surrounding objects that affected her. She was alone, and, to the best of her knowledge, with none within call. The silence was so profound that it seemed as though she could hear the minutes rustle by as they sped; at

*Landesmutter is a very graceful German appellation for the consort of the reigning sovereign.

VOL. XIV.-NO. CLXVIII.

and turning her thoughts to other objects, as the best mode of escaping the disagreeable impressions of the moment, she soon felt a gentle lassitude creep over her. The bridal chamber was forgotten in a pleasant consciousness of approaching sleep, when suddenly she was roused from her trance by a positive sound. It seemed to be a tuning of many instruments. She distinctly heard the squeaking of the fiddles, the growling of the basses, the middle tones of the tenors-then came a pause-and the solemn peal of the organ floated through the apartment.

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They have chosen a strange time and circumstance for the performance of sacred music in the chapel," thought Helena; but her wonder yielded to rapture, when, after a brilliant prelude of the organ, the stringed instruments joined their searching tones to its rolling harmonies, as though they were chanting forth the sorrows of the mortal race, amid the happier, yet grave concert of diviner voices, She became so inspired by the sweet, sad strains, that she could not help mingling with them, and soon her voice rose in solitary melody, to which the rest seemed but a subdued accompaniment, as though it were an individual and separate tale of woe she were uttering, to which the rest of earthly sorrows formed the chorus. Her tones rang so clear, so high, so mournful, they affected even herself; but she could not cease-she must go on-till again the mighty swell of the organ and the crash of the instruments silenced her and she listened in wrapt sympathy, Again it was her turn to take the lead; when, all at once, the music ceased entirely, and she alone could not stop, but continued her vain attempts to produce the same effect as before. Suddenly she saw issuing from behind the curtains of the bed a tall figure, clad in ducal robes, but beneath the crown a death's head was visible. She would have shrieked, but her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth. The figure advanced to the balustrade. She still hoped some potent charm would prevent its overstepping the frail barrier which still parted it from her; but no-the skeleton hand forced it back. She rose

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to fly-she ran with feeble steps to reach the door-but ere she could effect her purpose, the long, bony arms of the phantom fastened round her. Helena struggled violently to free herself, and, behold, he had disappeared

sitively ascertained, after a few months, by the rust of both lock and key. She and her nominal husband, therefore, never met except at the ducal table, where they exchanged but the most unavoidable courtesies. The Duke on such occasions was invaluable, with his incessant flow of what he chose benignantly to teria wittcisms, as he thus engrossed to himself all the attention which might otherwise have been painfully drawn to the

The room was silent, cold, and tenantless, as it had been a few hours before; she was reclining on the sofa, precisely in the position which she had assumed to compose herself for sleep. Had she been visited by some fearful vision? or was she merely duped by the phan-young people. Still, after the first blush of disappointtasma of a vivid dream? She dared not at that moment pause to decide; but, rising hastily, made towards the window, to see if day were yet far off, for she had no means of ascertaining the hour. Her trembling hand, did not attempt to raise the heavy drapery; but, gliding behind its folds, she perceived the window opened upon a balcony. There was such relief in the idea of breathing the free air that she did not hesitate to open the window and step out. It overlooked the gloomiest part of the park, where stood in a clump the oldest, tallest, darkest trees, a place equally seldom trod by the foot of gardener or visiter; but the moon, which was in her last quarter, shed her feeble light around, and though the sombre firs looked more mysterious beneath her silver ray, and the spot was not a friendly one even in daylight, Helena was so glad to gaze on Nature, ever young and fresh in comparison of the mouldiness of the past that oppressed her within the bridal chamber, that she quarrelled not with the confined prospect, since she had a sight of heaven's free vault.

Helena saw, or fancied she could see, lights still burning within some of the rooms of the palace. Who knows not the comfort which lights, and the consciousness of human beings near at hand, give to the timorous? And Helena felt so soothed, that, unmindful of the night air, she remained on the balcony until the first few faint streaks of approaching day warned her from her post, She drew the curtain back, however, to keep this consoling fact in view, as she reluctantly returned to the chamber; nor did she abandon the vicinity of the friendly casement until the fresh summer morning broke in brightly over the glad earth. The sight made her feel heartily ashamed of her foolish terrors over night. The objects that had then looked so awful now assumed a milder aspect, and she reproached herself for having allowed a dream to disturb her so greatly.

ment, with the elasticity of spirits natural to her years, Helena turned her best efforts to make her situation as tolerable as she could. She found this the more easy that she considered it but as a temporary one; and she made the best of her dull life, though dull enoug! it was. Her pleasures were few, and drawn rathe from the resources of her own innocent mind than from outward circumstances. Thus she caused a small tale to be fixed within her favourite bay window, in such a manner as to draw it in or out at will, where d wrote, and read, and drew, and sung to her guitar, always in sight of those hills that had charmed hơ when first she beheld them, and whose changing aspec, under the variations of light and shade which they were constantly undergoing, never sated her delighted ețe. There was another pleasure equal to this—that of her solitary walk in the park, a footman being the only dig on her free movements when the old lady in waiting, whose duty it was to attend her, unable to follow he rapid motions, rested herself in some pleasant bowe and suffered the Princess to roam about, under the vig lant eye of her faithful attendant, whom she had brought with her from her own country.

She was truly happy then, when, with feet wingely the sense of freedom, she sought the loneliest parts the park, or even ventured beyond its boundaries ira the daisy-enamelled fields. She felt as light-hearted and merry as a truant out of bounds; nor did she risk any encounter more romantic than that of an artful beggar who had cunningly waylaid her path, and always found ready access to her purse; or some nursery-ma whose pretty charge would often attract from her a kind look or caress. Sometimes, too, she would feed the deer with her own hands; and as the forester's fiverite, a tame, sleek roe, with glistening brown coat and gentle eyes, took the chesnut from her fair fingers, and Thus passed the wedding night of the Prince and gently rubbed her head against the basket on her arm Princess; and though the former took every precaution that contained more of them, Helena felt as happy as if to keep its results secret, circumstances got bruited no princely trammels bound her. Those who came about to which the Prince, since he dared not question contact with her praised her affability; for she had a his wife, had no clue, causing the Duke and Duchess kind smile for all. The military band that played every some distress of mind, which, however, for obvious rea-day from eleven to twelve in the palace yard was ob sons, they so carefully concealed from Helena, that she never had an opportunity, had she even been so disposed, to clear up the mystery. This was, namely, the appearance of a white lady on the balcony of the bridal chamber, who disappeared at cock-crow. Too many persons in the palace had deposed to having seen this vision with their own bodily eyes for the fact to be doubted; it was, therefore, universally believed, but differently construed, according to the prejudices of each.

Meanwhile the life of the Princess was sufficiently monotonous; she, indeed, retained the apartment first assigned her, but we need hardly say that the private passage which led from the young Prince's apartment was never used; a fact suspected from the first, but po

served to display more zeal than of yore, since the young Princess was known to listen to their performances with. unfailing exactitude.

Such were the pleasures of Helena's life; its bores were as regular in their recurrence. Among these were ber father-in-law's bon-mots, which she ever greeted, however, with an indulgent smile, and sometimes with the hearty laugh of youth, which, as we have seen, endeared her greatly to him from the first. The dinner was always a tedious affair; and though much less embarrassed by their reciprocal position than the Prince, his obvious restraint when he addressed her always checked half-way her efforts at establishing an easier intercours between them. "If he would but see in me," thought

Helena, "a temporary guest at his father's court, me- | game of the Duchess, who was a most critical player, thinks he might be more friendly. Surely I do not de- or to be immersed in Serenissimo's oft-repeated whys, serve this distance-I fetter him not-he is as free as whose novelty wore off but too soon upon her. Prince though I did not exist. I have not asked a single sacri- Henry seldom spent his evenings at the palace; but, fice of taste or fancy at his hands, and yet my sight is when there, his presence was rather an additional odious to him. He can't forgive me for existing at all, weight than a relief, by the restraint he imposed on though my existence is no obstacle in his path-surely Helena, who had a double part to play with reference this is most unjust." to him, desirous as she was at once of evading the curiosity of others, and avoiding to raise his suspicions of the integrity of her resolve.

Thus thought the Princess, and would have given worlds to have expressed those thoughts to the Prince; but the fear that he might misconstrue her advances made her still more diffident in her manner towards him than if she never had contemplated making any. This girlish timidity on her part, and Prince Henry's marked avoidance of her, gave rise to the daily surmises of the whole household, and finally roused the doubts and curiosity of the old Duchess herself; but she did not consider matters sufficiently rife, as yet, to call forth parental interference, which she had sense enough to feel was not very likely to avail in a case of this kind. She was convinced it was her son who was averse from the Princess, and not the reverse, which her pride could never have brooked or forgiven. She therefore pitied Helena, but was not angry with her, and trusted to time to make her son renounce a prejudice which a closer study of her daughter-in-law's gentle nature rendered unaccountable to her. But, though thus sympathising with Helena, she never betrayed it by word or look.

Solitude ripens the faculties of youthful minds, as rest ripens the budding charms of the person. Thus Helena, in the quiet of her own chamber, developed her mind by study; whilst early hours, and the pure, bracing air she enjoyed, told advantageously in her looks, that mended, slowly and gradually, indeed, but sensibly.

Prince Henry was far from exhibiting, or, indeed, enjoying, such tranquillity. He still, it is true, often mustered the troop of officers and handful of soldiers that composed the army, in the court-yard of the palace; but all his pleasure in this duty was evidently fast fading. He ceased to visit the library or the armoury, where he had been in the habit previously of spending some hours of each day; but riding, and chiefly hunting, always a lively taste with him, seemed of late to have grown into an inordinate passion. The horses he rode were often unfit for service for many a day; nay, sometimes, truly injured by reckless riding. He would suffer no other attendants about him but a few favourites, and his aide-de-camp and confidant, whom he knew to be wholly devoted to his person, a youth who, from infancy upwards, had been his inseparable companion. At first, he had ridden up and down the public avenues of the town, along which many of its inhabitants were in the habit of taking their walks ; but, latterly, he directed his course towards the dark forest that extended along the base of the hills. The

The after-dinners at the palace were, if possible, duller than the dinners. Helena longed to trust herself to the four splendid greys which the town had presented her with on her marriage, to reach the dark forest and blue hills she loved to gaze on from her windows. But the rule was not to be broken through. Serenissimo went to his room, undressed completely, and got to bed, where he slept for several hours. In the meantime, there was cercle at the Duchess, half a dozen old dowagers, whilst occupied with the knitting-old foresters of the Duke were in constant request, and needle, distilled the freshest reports floating about the town to the Duchess at her tambour frame, who, in turn, analysed the genealogy of neighbouring houses, or exalted her own, read and commented on the various letters which it was the hour of receiving-for, like all German grandees of that epoch, she was herself an indefatigable correspondent—was amazed at Countess Augusta Amelia Felicitas such and such having wedded Duke Kraft Ernest Judas Thaddeus Notger-read occasionally in the almanac ; but, though a woman of practical good sense in her own way, she was very averse from reading in general; and the only thing she was apt to regret was, that they had no theatre yet-a thing, she hoped, her son would one day provide.

When the Duke, refreshed by a couple of hours' sound sleep, fresh powdered, and perfumed, and frizzled, returned to the Duchess, then was the time allotted to pass into a larger saloon, where stood the card-tables, and the Duchess sat down to play until supper was announced. Helena, after having sat for hours like a monument of patience in her mother-in-law's boudoir, in appearance busy on a bit of fancy work, whose slow progress did not escape the observation and comments of all present for she could not fix her mind either to the conversation of the dowagers or on the canvass before her had now no alternative but to attend to the

tokens of the Prince's skill littered the passages and halls of the ducal residence-fresh antlers decorating every nook where they could with any propriety be introduced. But soon this mania took another and a graver turn. The Prince not only spent hours, but days, in the forest; and as the autumn drew on, and the leaves fell, he became more and more absorbed in this favourite pursuit, nor would he take the slightest interest in any other.

The family saw less and less of him; and he could scarcely curb his impatience at the trammels of home even in the Duke and Duchess' presence. His temper grew fretful and peevish; he was so restless and moody, that Helena, generally unobservant of his appearance, became struck with the circumstance; but she dared neither venture on the office of comforter, nor yet inquire of those around the reason of so obvious a change. Maternal eyes noted this change with more anxiety and less pity. For once, the Duchess condescended to inquire; it was but too soon that she solved the mystery so likely to blast all the fond hopes she and her husband had built upon his early marriage. The Prince had formed a serious attachment to the lady who had captivated his fancy some short time previous to that unlooked-for event.. Some petty annoyances, and the dread of discovery, had induced him

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