a chilly and atmosphere with all its melancholy gazed and gazed till she wa wearied out and then she turned within and opened her box of which had pleased her so often but now they failed in producing any other effect than a slight touch of pain � it might be a faint apprehension that what had been would never be again which had well nigh brought the tears into her eyes so she asked for her music but music without either voice or instrument is the thing in the world and this failed her too what could she do swallow her sleeping draught two hours before the time and beg of to assist her into bed for she was weary of herself and every thing beside in a few days however had so far recovered as to regain the tone of her mind and with this transient and came busy thoughts of that world in which she had been so bright a star � that ungrateful world that never missed nor mourned her as soon as her strength would permit amused herself with looking through her wardrobe one by one her rich dresses were unfolded the was called in to alter them to her present shape and ah it was like a mockery of the grave to see her tall thin figure out in the of fashion and folly and to hear her difficult and laborious and the short quick cough that perpetually interrupted her directions as she told how the the and the folds were to be so placed as to conceal the alteration in her wasted person oh it needs religion to us from the things of earth i pictures of private life chapter iv there is nothing like a return to the domestic scenes and pursuits of a family for giving spirits to an invalid and when released from the prison of her own room really fancied she was gaining strength with her returning spirits the hopes of the family returned and with their hopes the longing to be again in the world just to tell lady b that dear was recovering and then the party at sir robert long s could they refuse that now that pa and sir robert had had a difference about their game it would look as if the ladies of the family wished to keep it up � no they must go and not one of them only but all would sit with so they dressed themselves and kissed her very kindly and left her and she sat for a long time listening to the sound of the carriages as they rolled along the street each conveying its rich freight to the door of the wealthy it so happened on that day that had not been invited and hearing that his mistress was again visible and having nothing else to do he went and knocked at that busy door that was for ever turning on its hinges oh how well did know his step as he lightly up the stairs she tried to meet him at the door of the drawing room but her breath failed her and she could only look a welcome kinder than words when her lover first beheld her he started back for there is a disease which makes rapid upon beauty in the course of a few days without the sufferer being aware of any change but he soon recovered himself and began to for his long absence by a thousand excuses which often interrupted by her exclamations of pleasure that he had come at last and so i began to think that you would never come again it is so long since you have been here oh i am so glad to see you it is so dull shut up here alone when they all leave me but come sit down and be as happy as you can and tell me all that you have seen and heard since we last met but do not make me laugh for i have a wretched feeling here laying her hand upon her breast and laughing hurts me worse than anything so they sat down together and fixed their eyes upon the fire and were both silent for a long time did you ever see any one in a consumption was the first question which asked and her lover started for he had been thinking of the very same thing no i never did and hope i never shall your illness is not consumption dear it is not it shall not be then what can be the meaning of all this fever and why i get rid of this horrid cough i strive against it indeed i do and sometimes i think it is all fancy i feel so well but oh harry if it should be and she fixed her eyes upon him with such an expression of wild and agony that he almost shrank was not entirely a stranger to the thought but he had only thought of dying as a man or a soldier in the cause of honour or on the field of battle the certain symptoms of a lingering and fatal malady never before been present to his observation and now when he looked upon the being he had regarded as least mortal and met the glaring of the hollow eye and saw the falling away of the fair cheek the wasting of the once rounded lips and felt the earnest pressure of the thin and feverish hand his spirits failed within him for it was beyond what his imagination had ever pictured what his fortitude was able to endure and he felt that he had no consolation to offer in such an hour as this it is true he loved her � but how not as a fellow pilgrim through a of tears on towards a better land � not as a creature of high hopes and whose talents are to 