chambers of death."

She spoke quickly, as if to convince herself; she turned her eyes from the

trees and forest-paths she loved; she hid her face in my bosom, and we--

yes, my masculine firmness dissolved--we wept together consolatory tears,

and then calm--nay, almost cheerful, we returned to the castle.

The first cold weather of an English October, made us hasten our

preparations. I persuaded Idris to go up to London, where she might better

attend to necessary arrangements. I did not tell her, that to spare her the

pang of parting from inanimate objects, now the only things left, I had

resolved that we should none of us return to Windsor. For the last time we

looked on the wide extent of country visible from the terrace, and saw the

last rays of the sun tinge the dark masses of wood variegated by autumnal

tints; the uncultivated fields and smokeless cottages lay in shadow below;

the Thames wound through the wide plain, and the venerable pile of Eton

college, stood in dark relief, a prominent object; the cawing of the myriad

rooks which inhabited the trees of the little park, as in column or thick

wedge they speeded to their nests, disturbed the silence of evening. Nature

was the same, as when she was the kind mother of the human race; now,

childless and forlorn, her fertility was a mockery; her loveliness a mask

for deformity. Why should the breeze gently stir the trees, man felt not

its refreshment? Why did dark night adorn herself with stars--man saw

them not? Why are there fruits, or flowers, or streams, man is not here to

enjoy them?

431

The Last Man