CHAPTER III. "This is a creature Would she begin a sect might quench the zeal Of whom she bid but follow." SHAKSPEARE. ON recovering his senses, and again opening his eyes, Jocelyn beheld a beautiful vision standing by his bed-side, and holding a cordial to his lips, which, with a dulcet voice, she entreated him to drink. Still bewildered in his faculties, he knew not at first whether he were under the influence of some delightful dream, or whether he had indeed passed through the gate of death, and was invited to quaff from the chalice of immortality by one of the angels of heaven. His lips moved in faint endeavours to speak, but finding himself too much ex hausted to articulate a word, he obeyed in silence the behest of the ministering spirit. Invigorated by the cordial, he gathered strength enough to exclaim, as he again leant back upon the pillow" Gracious Heaven! am I in a dream, or is it, indeed, Constantia Beverning?" 66 Compose yourself," replied Constantia, "and do not attempt to speak. You have been wonderfully preserved. The hand of the Lord has been stretched forth to save you let us call upon him to complete the work of mercy, for no arm of flesh can turn aside the dart of death that is still hovering over you."---Kneeling down by his bed-side, she drew forth a book of prayer, and with a countenance irradiated by holy fervour, and a voice whose inimitable sweetness rendered the solemn earnestness of its expression still more emphatic, she proceeded to read extracts from the ninety-first psalm : "I will say unto the Lord, Thou art my hope and my strong hold, my God, in whom will I trust. For He shall deliver thee from the snare of the hunter, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall defend thee under his wings, and thou shalt be safe under his feathers: his faithfulness and truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day. For the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the sickness that destroyeth in noon day.-A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand.—He shall call upon me, and I will hear him: yea, I am with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and bring him to honour.-With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation." She closed the book, and casting up her large and glorious eyes to heaven, commenced an extempore prayer, which fell from her lips with a fine spontaneous eloquence, that nothing but deep feeling and fervent piety could inspire. Jocelyn's right hand was extended, powerless, upon the bed. She took it up in the midst of her supplications, pressed it between both of her's, and, lifting it upwards, implored Heaven, with an increased enthusiasm, to allay the disease that throbbed in its veins, and restore it to its strength. He thought that a tear glistened in her eye, as she felt the fever burning within him. At any other time, and in any other female, there might have appeared some impropriety in the action; but the pure and sanctified thoughts of Constantia at that moment were unmixed with any earthly feeling; and Jocelyn knew that she was defying death, rather than courting any of the considerations of life, when in the sublime heroism of her devotion she presssed his infected hand. Not having, however, the power to withdraw it, he yielded it passively to her control, looking on, and listening to her accents, with a mingled impression of amazement at her presence, and of pious confidence in the efficacy of her intercessions. At the conclusion of her prayer she arose, and seeing Jocelyn about to speak, she laid her finger upon her lips, to enjoin silence. She then R placed a silver flask by his bed-side, of which she desired him to drink whenever he should awake in the night; and calling upon Heaven once more to bless and deliver him from the pestilence, she vanished from the room, promising, however, to revisit him in the morning. Jocelyn remained for a long time lost in the most perplexing and contradictory speculations. That she should be in England at all, when the two countries were involved in war-that she should have discovered his abode, for he could not suppose her appearance to have been accidental-that she should have been able to gain admittance to the house, barricadoed as it was--and that she should have presented herself at the very moment when he was at the last gasp of life, to chase away his intended murderess by her presence-presented a combination of mysteries, which he was still vainly endeavouring to unravel, when he yielded to the influence of the powerful opiate he had swallowed, and sunk into a deep refreshing sleep, |