A LADY, past the prime of life, sat thoughtful, as twilight fell duskily around her, in a room furnished with great elegance.

That her thoughts were far from being pleasant, the sober, even sad expression of her countenance too clearly testified.

She was dressed in deep mourning.

A faint sigh parted her lips as she looked up, on hearing the door of the apartment in which she was sitting open.

The person who entered, a tall and beautiful girl, also in mourning, came and sat down by her side, and leaned her head, with a pensive, troubled air, down upon her shoulder.
"We must decide upon something, Edith, and that with as little delay as possible," said the elder of the two ladies, soon after the younger one entered.