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15 8 CONSTANCY MISPLACED.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
» Herself With Eijise Its Had With Preci...
A violent pull at the bell interrupted her gloomy meditations . A entered stranger the , room an unheard . He - was of phenomenon tall and distingui , stood shed in the looking hall " and , thoug soon h
{ Somewhat pale ; his . face was disfigured by a deep scar over the foreheadwhich had occasioned the loss of one eye ; still there was
b app something y the earance unexpected , exceeding of the str interrup ly anger attractive . tion Elise , in but was the endeavoured features at first , somewh and to in recover at the confused whole from
3 ier embarrassment when he began to speak . He introduced himself as Count Arendsberg , the patron of Volker , whom he had come to seekin order to arrange with him when he should enter upon
, his new duties . * Elise answered him , but his attention was suddenly arrested by
the picture , which he gazed upon without listening to her . " Elise , " exclaimed he at last in deep emotion , and looked in astonishment
upon the elderly lady before him , who fixed her great blue eyes himand at last said with a slow and trembling voice—" You
sure upon Oscar , and you live ! " Elise sunk into her chair , pale and faint . The , Count endeavoured to assist her ; confused and
uncertain what tone he ought to adopt , he addressed her as the sister of his beloved friend , and besought her to calm herself . He was
almost terrified at the spectre look of her eyes , which were conheartrending tinually fixed tone upon ; " him you . have " You live live d whilst , " exclaimed I have she bemoaned at last , your in a
death with unspeakable anguish . Oh ! my lost life I " The Count led her to the sofa ; she was quifce unable to sit up .
He endeavoured to compose his own spirit under the overwhelming surprise of this unlooked-for meeting ; he seated himself near her ,
and began : " Will you try and listen to me quietly , dear Elise ?" She bowed her head and continued to look at him without
speaking . The Count began thus : — " That I have not forgotten youthis meeting itself proclaims .
, When we separated on that March morning , your image accompanied me as an earnest of victory in battle and strife . It floated
before my fading sight like an angel with the palm of victory , when on that fatal day I fell at Kitzen by the side of your brother ,
when who was I had still commended unscathed . my A lon soul g to dark God ni , g believin ht followed g my th eyes at were hour
closing for the last sleep . I was told long afterwards that a faithful servant of my uncle , who had been sent to seek me , had drawn out
my _suj _3 posed corpse from a heap of the slain , and carried it to the castle of his master . One of my eyes was lost , and my brain
seriously injured ; and so I lay for a long time , now unconscious and again delirious ; lost to life as it appeared . As I had entered the
Imtzow corps under a false name , I was mentioned . in the list of slain ; the name of Falkenschwerdt stands yet beside that of your
brother on the war monument . Thanks to the care of my friends ,
15 8 Constancy Misplaced.
15 8 CONSTANCY MISPLACED .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1863, page 158, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051863/page/14/
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