CHAPTER IV.

THE REVELATION.

WELL, I listened eagerly, too eagerly. He paused, dropped his head upon his hands, and seemed to be diving into the past.

Deep silence reigned between us, broken only by the supernaturally loud ticking of the chamber clock, hurrying on toward midnight. There he sat upon the foot of the bed, his elbows resting on his knees, his face buried in the palms of his hands, his stringy, jet black locks falling forward, shudder after shudder shaking his frame!

"Poor fellow! he does not know how to begin," thought I, and waited anxiously some time, a feeling of delicacy withholding me from interrupting him, until I found, by the cessation of his shudders and the perfect immobility of his form, that he had fallen into a fit of deep abstraction, and that his thoughts were far, far from me. Then, after some hesitation, I recalled him, by a word spoken in a low, gentle tone,

"Wallraven !"

He started slightly, raised his shaggy black head, and gazed upon me from his light gray eyes

with the bewildering look of one awakened from a deep sleep, with a dream still overshadowing his

spirits.

"Wallraven!" said I again, in a still kinder tone," you were about to give me

"Ha! ha! ha! Oh, thou son of Eve! Never tell me of woman's curiosity! We have not a bit, have we?" laughed he, in the most sarcastic and exasperating manner.

You will wonder, perhaps, at the strange patience I had with that bitter and sardonic youth; but, in truth, I was more pained than angry at his sarcastic and insulting tone, for under all was betrayed the profoundest sorrow, the acutest suffering. I felt the same compassionate toleration for his ill-temper, that we feel for the irritability of any dearly loved sufferer. I replied, gently,

"I did not solicit your confidence, Wolfgang. It was voluntarily proffered on your part; and I tell you now, that unless by so doing I can very materially serve you, I have no wish to pry into your secrets, further than fidelity to my sister's interests under existing circumstances seems to require."

"To what existing circumstances do you refer?” he asked, quickly.

"To your relations, or implied relations, with Miss Fairfield."

"And what do you suppose them to be?"

"From what I witnessed this evening, I presume that you are engaged," I replied, gazing at him with anxious scrutiny.

"You are wrong-we are not engaged!" "Not! Is it possible that Regina has rejected you?"

"No; for I have not offered her my hand." "What! not! Then you intend to do so at the first opportunity."

"No! I have no intention of ever offering myself to Miss Fairfield!'

"Then, by heaven! much as I have forgiven you upon my own account, you shall first give me satisfaction for your unpardonable conduct of this evening, and then swear never to offend Miss Fairfield by coming into her presence again."

"Oh! Ferdinand, my fine fellow, don't flare up. You do not know what you are talking about!"

"I say I will have satisfaction!"

"And so you shall; any and every satisfaction

you please, and as much of it as you please! Come, I will fight, or apologize, as you will.”

"And I repeat most emphatically, that I adore that pride !"

"You are an enthusiast!"

"I worship that pride-that lofty spirit, which is not assumption, nor arrogance, but a calm, majestic, unconscious assertion of her own inestimable worth! of her own essential, unalienable worth! of her own essential, unalienable royalty!

because she is proud! Yes! yes! I worship the ground she walks on—for it is holy ground; the pebble her foot spurns-for it is a precious stone! Words! words! breath! air! Look you! People have taked about dying for their beloved! I am doing it! I am doing it!"

Language cannot convey the heart-rending tone in which these words were spoken. He went on,

“Yes, yes! I will account for my 'conduct' of this evening! I had firmly repressed my feelings for six weeks. I thought the danger over, or well nigh over! I went up to her to-night, to bid her adieu, with the stern determination of never, never seeing her again. She held out her hand—looking up to me with her beautiful, bewildering, maddening eyes-eloquent with love, sorrow, reproach, inquiry—and, the great tide of long suppressed emotion rushed in, filling my heart, flooding my brain, bearing down and sweeping away reason, memory, understanding! and I did and said—some maniac things! Come, shoot me, if you please! Yes, I will meet you when and where you please, and bare my bosom to your knife or ball, but never raise my hand against you, my brother, my heart's dear brother! In the name of heaven, then, why don't you speak to me?"