University of Virginia Library

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I.

1. I.

The last solemn peal of the organ ceased; the worshippers
rose from the pavement; the priest descended
from the altar; the candles were extinguished, and the
mass for that day was over. Slowly the dense cloud
passed out, and silence and solitude took the place of
the murmur of the late worshipping assembly.

Two persons yet remained. One of these, a female,
was prostrate before an image of the virgin, her forehead
laid against the marble floor. She was in deep
black, and a rich veil fell in thick folds and hid her
face, which, if in harmony with the exquisite symmetry
of her figure, could not be less than beautiful. A
lovely woman kneeling in prayer, is, at all times, an
interesting sight; but when she is clothed in mourning,
(which gives to women that kind of effect, which
in a temple is produced by “dim, religious light,”)
the sight is peculiarly touching, and not unfrequently
is vested with the power to awaken the finest emotions
of our hearts, and make even the sceptic ask of
himself, if a religion, that numbers among its votaries
such grace and beauty, may not have its foundation
in truth?

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256

Such at least were the thoughts passing through the
mind of a handsome young man who leaned against
a pillar not far off, with his eyes fixed on the kneeling
devotee. His head was uncovered, leaving free
masses of rich brown hair, that fell to his shoulders. A
slight mustache curved above his well-shaped mouth.
His figure was tall; his brow fair and open; his dress
in the latest foreign fashion; and an air of high breeding,
combined with a certain haughtiness of carriage,
and his foreign appearance, marked him as one of the
French nobles who had fled from their country to
escape the guillotine, which was daily drunk with the
best blood of France.