Immediately on our departure, I was delighted to find a change in Idris, which I fondly hoped prognosticated the happiest results.  All the cheerfulness and gentle gaiety natural to her revived.  She was weak, and this alteration was rather displayed in looks and voice than in acts; but it was permanent and real.  My recovery from the plague and confirmed health instilled into her a firm belief that I was now secure from this dread enemy.  She told me that she was sure she should recover.  That she had a presentiment, that the tide of calamity which deluged our unhappy race had now turned.  That the remnant would be preserved, and among them the dear objects of her tender affection; and that in some selected spot we should wear out our lives together in pleasant society.  “Do not let my state of feebleness deceive you,” she said; “I feel that I am better; there is a quick life within me, and a spirit of anticipation that assures me, that I shall continue long to make a part of this world.  I shall throw off this degrading weakness of body, which infects even my mind with debility, and I shall enter again on the performance of my duties.  I was sorry to leave Windsor:  but now I am weaned from this local attachment; I am content to remove to a mild climate, which will complete my recovery.  Trust me, dearest, I shall neither leave you, nor my brother, nor these dear children; my firm determination to remain with you to the last, and to continue to contribute to your happiness and welfare, would keep me alive, even if grim death were nearer at hand than he really is.”

I was only half re-assured by these expressions; I could not believe that the over-quick flow of her blood was a sign of health, or that her burning cheeks denoted convalescence.  But I had no fears of an immediate catastrophe; nay, I persuaded myself that she would ultimately recover.  And thus cheerfulness reigned in our little society.  Idris conversed with animation on a thousand topics.  Her chief desire was to lead our thoughts from melancholy reflections; so she drew charming pictures of a tranquil solitude, of a beauteous retreat, of the simple manners of our little tribe, and of the patriarchal brotherhood of love, which would survive the ruins of the populous nations which had lately existed.  We shut out from our thoughts the present, and withdrew our eyes from the dreary landscape we traversed.  Winter reigned in all its gloom.  The leafless trees lay without motion against the dun sky; the forms of frost, mimicking the foliage of summer, strewed the ground; the paths were overgrown; the unploughed cornfields were patched with grass and weeds; the sheep congregated at the threshold of the cottage, the horned ox thrust his head from the window.  The wind was bleak, and frequent sleet or snow-storms, added to the melancholy appearance wintry nature assumed.