Year: 1859

master Oy MS lmpaGlonJ DedflHB, nOC 10


hesitate between love and duty, and the
old man, adding fathers blessing to that
of the priest. bade the bridegroom God
speed on his journey. A few broken
words and bursting sobs from the young
wife-a few deep murmured whispers of
comfort and hope from the bridegroom.
and the silence of absence fell on the old
castle, 81 cceeding drearily to the bustle of
the arrival, the hasty wedding, and the de-
parture.


That night, after bestowing on his
daughter such tender, anxious words of
counsel as only dying parent can breathe,
to the dear orphan he is leaving, the old
baron died.


The desolate young wife wandered
about the castle in loneliness of heart,
yearning for the living and the dead Her
situation was too painful for her unstrung
frame to endure. Her strength, greatly
taxed by long watching over her father,
yielded now to the grief she felt at his
death, and her anxiety for the fate of her
husband. A dangerous illness brought
her to the brink of the grave, and when,
after many weeks of danger, she began to
slowly recover, the principal charm of her
beauty had vanished. The exquisite
bloom of her cheeks was gone. Nor was
that all: Instead of the shelltinted purity
of her complexion which had formerly
been so remarkable, the skin had become
sallow, stained and blotched. 1t certainly
was confirmation of the truth of the old
adage that beauty was only skin deep-for
the change was marvellous. In spite of
her fine figure and regular features, the
lovely Ida of few weeks ago would with
difficulty have hecn recognized This one
hideous Disagreement obliterated all her
charms. The young countess was filled
with dismay and alarm. Her fond hus-
band! how should she meet him, cruelty
transformed as she was! How must she
shrink from the eye which had hitherto
been her delight to meet! How endure to
see that eye change-to see disappoint
t-horror---disgust, take the place of
the admiration which she was accustomed
to see expressed on that dear facel She
felt she could not beat it. Such change
would break her heart--she must die of
love, modification, and grief. She pic
tured to herself with morbid vividness his
first recoil of surprise and aversion, aud
death seemed TO her preferable to encoun-
ter i'll





plored him, at any Iisk, or at any sacri-
tice on her part 10 find some remedy for !
the affliction, and offered princely rewards |
in case of success. The doct.r essay ed
his u,mcst skill, and numerous and ingc-
NOUS were his devices; but his eflo! is were
al in vain.


Meanwhile letters came from Count Won
Zittern, announcing that peace was about
to be concluded, and that in another month |
he should be at home to claim the bride |
from whom fate had so cruelty separated
him, even ON their bridal day.


The countess and the doctor were in
despair Ida besought him more press
ingly than ever to cure her-whie the |
good man was forced in humbleness of
heart to own the impotency of his drugs.
At last, one day, after painful interview
with the unhappy lady, who implored him
in touching terms to come to her aid, he
said reluctantly.


"There is, my dear young lady,
remedy yet untried, but 1t is Of such
dangerous, or rather of so fatal nature,
that have not dared to name it,


Ida seized his hand with breathless ca
gerness; such earnest inquiry was ex-
pressed in her looks, that he could not
choose but answer it.


"There are, as all the world knows"
said the doctor, "in this county as we'll
as Bohemia, certain arsenic springs, the
effects of whose waters on the skin are Of
wondrous virtue. Those who drink them
receive, as their certain reward, COM
plexion of singular purity and dellcacy;
but the boon is dearly purchased, for the
price is death-death. slowly bat surely
claiming the vlctim as long as the daily
draught is conlinued-death, swift and
fearful, as soon as the fatal cup is with
drawn. Such" continued he, ''is this
fearful remedy, which owes its efficacy or
wondrous power to the fact that the water
is charged with the deadly poison, arse
mic. 1t isa secret not known to many
that there is on your ladyship's own es-
tate one of these springs, but pray you
have nothing to do with it. No lasting
good can come of it,"


AS he finished speaking Ida rose, and
clasping her hands exclaimed, fervently,
in her folly, "Thank heaven, l am saved!
My prayers are answered! Oh, doctor,
the conditions are hard but can l hesitate?
pray you lead me to this spring."


The physician reluctantly obeyed; they
crossed the pleasure grounds and entered
wood, within whose dim rececses, in a
dark, secluded part, spring gushed forth
mysteriously from nook and trickled into
a rocky basin, which it appeared to have
worn for itself in. the he art of huge
stone. The water was Of peculiar,
whitish color, and no living creature was
TO be keen in the little stream which flowed
away-no plant grew near its margin
But Ida eagerly filed with the water the
goble. she had brought, and was carrying
it to her lips when the physician grasped
her arm. ,


crash girl, what are you doing?" he
cried: "half what your goblet holds would
cause your instant death,'' and taking the
glass from her hands he noured awav