were presently dispelled, for the curtain being slowly drawn up, discovered an iron grating, behind which was seen a female figure, attired as a candidate nun, who is about to take the veil. It was Constantia ! Her dark luxuriant locks had been all cut off, and the plain black coif that enclosed her face, imparted a pale hue to her countenance, while it made her eyes appear even more large and lustrous than usual; altogether injuring the general character of her beauty, but assimilating well with the solemn, though sweet and serene, expression of her features at the present moment.

"Constantia !" exclaimed her three visitants, in accents of profound amazement.

"Yes, my dear friends," she replied: "it is Constantia, who having this morning accomplished, by your happy union, every object for which she wished to live, is about to exchange the world and all its anxieties, for the seclusion and happiness of the cloister. This step I have long contemplated; to this destiny I was

At

peculiarly adapted by my temperament-to this destiny am I now inevitably impelled by the circumstances of my fate. There was but one woman, to whom my whole heart was bound by the ties of friendship; there was but one man for whom-in whose favour-" She paused, blushed deeply, and appeared confused. length, after a few moments' deliberation, she continued, still, however, keeping her eyes fixed upon the ground-" Should I not rather be proud of so difficult a victory, than ashamed to confess a weakness that I have conquered? There was but one woman to whom I was boun by friendship, there was but one man whom I loved. I have triumphed over my passion-I have proved the sincerity of my friendship— I have made these two people happy by bestowing them upon one another-I have not lived in vain. My purpose in life has been accomplished; I am now useless to the world, and to me it has lost all its attractions. What is man? -Yesterday's clay, to-morrow's dust! In a few

short years all that moves, or owns the breath of life, will have passed away. I cannot attach myself to this fleeting pageant; my soul rejects its tantalizing and evanescent joys, and yearns for more enduring beatitudes. I have therefore resigned it, that I may dedicate myself to Heaven; and that our double wedding may be solemnized on the same day, I am about to become the bride of an immortal Bridegroom. The ring with which I am to be married to Him has been already laid upon the altar; this night I am to pronounce the vows, and to be solemnly invested with the veil; and this therefore, my dear friends, is the last time, in this world at least, that we shall ever-ever-". Again she paused, for her voice had grown indistinct and tremulous, while her throat, swelling with the emotion which she in vain struggled to subdue, denied her the power of further utterance.

Julia, who guessed the threatened separation, rather by the distress of her friend than by her expressions, rushed forward, and falling upon

her knees, while she held up her clasped hands against the iron bars, passionately exclaimed— “Oh, no, no, no! My kind, my generous, my noble benefactress! my own Constantia! you cannot, will not leave us for ever ! We may at least see you, if it be only thus ;-if it be only to convince you that you have not sacrificed yourself in vain, -to prove to you that we are happy-to renew to you the assurances of our eternal gratitude.”

"It must not be," said Constantia, shaking her head" I should not dare to trust my heart; a minute's interview might destroy all the resolutions of a month. Julia, Jocelyn, Mrs. Walton! help me to be firm. Prove yourselves to be indeed my friends by assisting me to support this most painful-most trying—” In spite of all her efforts, the tears flowed so fast that she was again unable to proceed, until she had paused for a few moments, when she gathered strength to exclaim-"These are the

tears of the flesh, not of the spirit; the body is weak, but the soul is firm. My dear, dear friends, farewell!-farewell for ever! Consider me as bidding you a last adieu from my deathbed; these hands which I pass to you through the bars of my convent, consider them as being stretched out to you from the grave; henceforward look upon Constantia as dead!"

At this instant the chapel-bell of the convent began to toll for the approaching ceremony, a sound which, in conjunction with the last words she had heard, fell with such an appalling effect upon Julia's ear, that uttering a shriek of anguish, she threw herself upon Constantia's extended arm, grasping it as if she would prevent the execution of her purpose, and sobbing aloud in an uncontrollable agony of grief. Mrs. Walton, whose firmer soul had hitherto enabled her to support the scene, now yielded to her emotion; her compressed lips moved rapidly up and down, the lower part of her face was