encircling her waist.  I tried to speak, but no sound came from my lips.  I shook with fear and wonder.  I had surely died, I thought, just then, and this is the vision and hearing of the soul released from flesh.  ‘O, Milan, hear me, hear me,’ I cried in anguish.  But no sound of my own lips floated on the air.  Nothing was heard but their words, which I was obliged to hear.  And O, how my heart was turned to stone, and my brain to fire, as these words came to my ears: 

“’Love her!  Why, dearest Laura, whom I have adored so long, and whom chance has again brought into my path,—­how can you question my affection for you,’ and then I saw that he knelt at her feet!

“‘I think I heard but yesterday, that you were engaged,’ continued the fair and brilliant girl, at whose feet he still remained.

“’O, angel of my heart, will no words convince you that I love you beyond, above all women?  I have in times past exhausted the language of love in speaking to your heart, Laura, are you heartless?  I can plead no more.’

“’I saw the tears glitter on her face as purely white as marble, then her lips parted and these words fell on my ear,—­

“’O, Milan, I would that I could divine my feeling towards you.  My heart is full of love for you, but my reason falters, and something within me tells, I must not accept you.  I feel thrills of horror at times, even when my affection turns toward you.  I cannot fathom the strange mystery.’  She bowed her face in her hands and wept.  I saw him rise from his kneeling posture, and walk away to hide his emotions.  I felt the fearful contest going on within himself, and then all grew dark.  I heard no sound again, though I listened intently.  I seemed back again in my form-sleep at last came to my weary senses.  In dreams, then, I was walking again with him, by a beautiful lake, over which a storm had just passed, leaving a lovely rainbow arching its bosom.  I felt the pressure of his hand, as he held mine, and saw his eyes beam tenderly into mine own.

“‘The storm is over,’ he said, ’see how the waves are tipped with golden rays.’

“Cheered by these words, I looked on the scene-the calmed lake, the bow of promise,—­with a feeling of rapturous delight thrilling my whole being.  Gazing thus earnestly, my attention was drawn to a curious ripple on the lake’s surface.  Then I beheld a female form rising from the waters, upon whose broad, white brow were these words:-Loved and Deserted.  Startled by this, I turned to look upon Milan, but I saw him not.  He had fled, and I was alone.  All was lonely and still as death.

“Tremblingly I pursued my way back.  The sun was sinking behind the hills, and darkness would overtake me before I could reach home.  I quickened my speed, when suddenly I stumbled over something in my path.  A light from the heavens, a flash of summer lightning revealed a grave, from which the form of a fair, sweet girl arose, and said, ‘Beware!  He, too, loved me, and for his love I pined and died.’  The form vanished and the air seemed full of sounds of admonition, while around me appeared hosts of beings of another world.  My senses reeled.  I called for help, and must have cried aloud, for just then I heard my mother’s voice from the adjoining room,—­’What is it, Sibyl?’ and when I awoke she was at my side.