Casting a look of farewell around the familiar hall, he wafted a parting kiss towards the chapel--an action which, though light, was full of tenderness and regret.

Then, with a low salute, he left me.

The street-door opened and closed after him in its usual noiseless manner.
He was gone.
The morning had now fairly dawned, and within the Hotel Mars the work of the great mansion went on in its usual routine; but a sombre melancholy was in the atmosphere--a melancholy that not all my best efforts could dissipate.

The domestics looked sullen and heavy-eyed; the only ones in their number who preserved their usual equanimity were the Armenian men-servants and the little Greek page.

Preparations for Zara's funeral went on apace; they were exceedingly simple, and the ceremony was to be quite private in character.