convulsed, and the tears rolled rapidly though silently down her cheeks. Jocelyn, who had been endeavouring to set an example of firmness, was no longer able to resist the contagion of the distress that surrounded him, and the drops, gushing suddenly from his eyes, rained upon the hand that had been held out to him through the bars.

"Oh God!" exclaimed Constantia, with vehemence; "this is too much;-women are feeble and sensitive creatures; I can bear to see them weep. But the tears of a man-of the man whom I Spare me this pang.-Oh, spare me for the love of mercy! Send me not to my heavenly espousals desecrated with the tears of an earthly attachment.”

She had shut her eyes as if to avoid the sight, and now withdrawing her hands, and pressing them both upon her left side, apparently in much pain, from the violent heaving of her bosom, she ejaculated:-" My heart! my

throbbing heart! it will break-it will burst."

-Turning suddenly round at these words, she threw herself on her knees before a large crucifix that stood on one side the grating, exclaiming, as she embraced the feet of the image: "Save me, help me, thou husband of my soul !" and fixing her streaming eyes upon the figure, her lips continued moving for some time, in fervent though inaudible prayer.

Fortified by this act of devotion, she arose with much more composure; her features were animated by a religious enthusiasm, as she again passed her arm through the grating, took Jocelyn's hand, which she tenderly clasped, and exclaimed:-" Farewell for ever! May the blessing of Almighty God be upon you!" The same parting benediction was then solemnly pronounced upon Julia, who alternately pressed the extended hand to her bosom, and covered it with kisses and tears.

At this moment the bell again tolled; the

door of the inner room opened; the bishop and a train of attendants entered to escort her to the altar, where she was to receive the veil and pronounce the irrevocable vow; and Constantia, raising her arms to Heaven, and chanting in a low and still tremulous voice: "Ancilla Christi sum," walked slowly out of the room. As the door that shut her out for ever from the world was closed behind her, the sound smote the heart of Julia, with an effect as deathlike as if she had seen her friend lowered into the grave, and had heard the earth rattling upon her coffin. Fixing her eyes upon the door through which she had passed, she remained for some time gazing at it in a stupor of bewildered grief; when, as if suddenly recollecting herself, she called in a low and hollow voice, "Constantia!" After a short pause she repeated it in a louder tone; and again a third time in a still more elevated key; but finding her unavailing cry succeeded by a dead silence, her

whole frame became agitated with convulsive heavings. She uttered a low shuddering groan, burst immediately afterwards into a shriek of hysterical laughter, and, sinking into the arms of her husband, was conveyed out of the apartment in a passion of ungovernable grief.

1

THE CONCLUSION.

"But mistress know yourself; down on your knees,
And thank heaven, fasting, for a good man's love:
For I must tell you friendly in your ear,

Sell when you can, you are not for all markets;
Cry the man mercy, love him, take his offer.”

SHAKSPEARE.

ON their return to the house where the marriage had been celebrated, Jocelyn found a casket addressed to himself, which had been left during their absence at the convent. He broke it open, and discovered a bundle of papers, together with a long letter from Constantia, of which he eagerly commenced the perusal. It began with stating, that as the immense fortune left to her by her father had always been an incumbrance, and was now become absolutely