University of Virginia Library

9. CHAPTER IX.

Spring, with its dreamy influences, was again
on the wing to the shores of merry England. True,
its early glance, like the smile of virgin modesty,
was tempered with a dash of frigidity; but who has
not desired, in the innermost recesses of his heart,
that both the type and the substance might inherit
immortality; so fragrant are the flowers of enjoyment
which are snatched from the brink of uncertainty!

Twilight had descended upon the city with gentle
and cautious footsteps, as if reluctant to dim the
fading glories of the expiring day; and the vast
crowd which poured along the streets of the metropolis,
by their subdued voices and lighter tread,
evinced their unconscious sympathy with the sweet

and pensive hour. The discordant sounds which
render London a second Babel during the day, were
modulated, until they mimicked the solemn swell of
the ocean, when the death-song of its complaining
surges are faintly heard in the distance.

Clifton's little study, of which he was again an
occupant, overlooked the street, and directly opposite
his window, a massive Gothic structure, with its
pointed arches, towers, turrets, and battlements,
looked down with a most protecting air on two
diminutive modern erections which stood in humble
attitude on either hand beneath its shadow.

Seating himself near the window, he gazed listlessly
on the moving panorama before him, until his
thoughts became entirely absorbed in the contemplation
of the varying events connected with his own
sad destiny. As may be inferred, this reverie was
ill calculated to secure mental or bodily repose; and
unfortunately, recent circumstances had occurred to
increase the gloom caused by those which threw
their shadows permanently over his prospects. He
had left the charming social circle at Lord Templeton's,
and now felt, most poignantly, the loss of their
sympathetic alleviation of his sorrows; and, on
reaching the city, had been cruelly disappointed at
receiving no letters from his friends in America.

At De Lyle's suggestion, his foster-parents had
determined not to forward any communications to
his address, until a sufficient time had elapsed to
allay the excitement of the public in relation to the

duel with Ellingbourne; but this surely could not
account for so protracted a silence.

All these and a thousand other themes, in which
melancholy was the predominant ingredient, passed
through his mind with the speed of thought, until
he came to the conclusion that he was especially
singled out by untoward fate, as a victim to its most
despotic and harrassing influences.

To strengthen this idea, he dwelt on the fatal vision
which agonized his mind on the night previous
to his conflict with the robbers. Did not this conclusively
prove that he was the sport of evil destiny?
Just as his reflections had reached this gloomy point,
the singular and hesitating manner of a pedestrian
on the opposite side of the street, and directly beneath
the portico of the Gothic building, arrested his
attention. Although the evening was bland and
lovely, yet a large Spanish cloak was wrapped
closely around the individual in question, and by
the manner in which he proceeded, it was evident
that debility caused the hesitation of manner which
first attracted Clifton's attention. The latter was
about withdrawing his eyes, when, as the stranger
passed beneath a gas-lamp, which threw a strong
light on his face, Clifton, with horror, recognized the
pale features of Julius Ellingbourne!

At any other time, perhaps, he might have met
as striking a resemblance to his unfortunate antagonist,
without its exciting any superstitious feelings,
but now, the ghost-like fac-simile of him he ha

slain acted fearfully on his nerves, already weakened
by the effects of his painful wound.

“'Tis as I feared,” he said, musingly, to himself,
“murder will have its victim, sooner or later. How
haggard and death-like were his features! and methought
he gazed up in my face with a threatening
and terrific look, which froze my very blood. In
my happy hours of boyhood, I sportively selected a
star, and watched its bright course, until I became a
convert to the dreams of the astrologer, and fancied
that my fate was linked with its career.

“Let me look on it now:—perchance it may corroborate
or refute the gloomy view I have taken into
futurity.” Thus saying, he sought out the sparkling
luminary which, for a moment, shone with undiminished
brilliancy. While he looked, a dark,
but diminutive cloud, no larger than a lady's veil,
was wafted by an unfelt breeze along the horizon,
until it reached the luckless star over which it
hovered, obscuring its beams and rendering it invisible.

“The omen is complete!” sighed Clifton. “My
career is approaching its close, and I may bid adieu
to all the bright visions which, in years gone by, solaced
and cheered me with their lustre!

“Hereafter my existence will be like the bubble on
the stream, which the slightest agitation of the waves
of destiny will annihilate.

“Farewell the anxious hope for a Name among
the Deathless! Farewell the enchanting dream

of a future union with Julia. A long farewell to
that ambition which, like the eagle, nestled among
the mountain-crags of Futurity—cradled by the
thunder-cloud—companion of the sunbeam! Farewell
to the sunny smile of affection—the warm
grasp of friendship—the applause of the mighty in
intellect.

“Ye flowers of life that have here and there shed
your fragrance over my path, farewell! Henceforth
your thorns are alone to be my bitter inheritance!”