Yes, yes, she exclaimed in a firm voice; you go to be happy—­I am not a complete wretch!  The words almost choked her.

He was a long time silent; the opiate produced a kind of stupor.  At last, in an agony, he cried, It is dark; I cannot see thee; raise me up.  Where is Mary? did she not say she delighted to support me? let me die in her arms.

Her arms were opened to receive him; they trembled not.  Again he was obliged to lie down, resting on her:  as the agonies increased he leaned towards her:  the soul seemed flying to her, as it escaped out of its prison.  The breathing was interrupted; she heard distinctly the last sigh—­and lifting up to Heaven her eyes, Father, receive his spirit, she calmly cried.

The attendants gathered round; she moved not, nor heard the clamor; the hand seemed yet to press hers; it still was warm.  A ray of light from an opened window discovered the pale face.

She left the room, and retired to one very near it; and sitting down on the floor, fixed her eyes on the door of the apartment which contained the body.  Every event of her life rushed across her mind with wonderful rapidity—­yet all was still—­fate had given the finishing stroke.  She sat till midnight.—­Then rose in a phrensy, went into the apartment, and desired those who watched the body to retire.

She knelt by the bed side;—­an enthusiastic devotion overcame the dictates of despair.—­She prayed most ardently to be supported, and dedicated herself to the service of that Being into whose hands, she had committed the spirit she almost adored—­again—­and again,—­she prayed wildly—­and fervently—­but attempting to touch the lifeless hand—­her head swum—­she sunk—­

CHAP.  XXX.

Three months after, her only friend, the mother of her lost Henry began to be alarmed, at observing her altered appearance; and made her own health a pretext for travelling.  These complaints roused Mary out of her torpid state; she imagined a new duty now forced her to exert herself—­a duty love made sacred!—­

They went to Bath, from that to Bristol; but the latter place they quickly left; the sight of the sick that resort there, they neither of them could bear.  From Bristol they flew to Southampton.  The road was pleasant—­yet Mary shut her eyes;—­or if they were open, green fields and commons, passed in quick succession, and left no more traces behind than if they had been waves of the sea.

Some time after they were settled at Southampton, they met the man who took so much notice of Mary, soon after her return to England.  He renewed his acquaintance; he was really interested in her fate, as he had heard her uncommon story; besides, he knew her husband; knew him to be a good-natured, weak man.  He saw him soon after his arrival in his native country, and prevented his hastening to enquire into the reasons of Mary’s strange conduct.  He desired him not to be too precipitate, if he ever wished to possess an invaluable treasure.  He was guided by him, and allowed him to follow Mary to Southampton, and speak first to her friend.