Beauty for me, has faded from the landscape, and the air is no longer balmy with odours.

The birds sing for my ears no more; I hear not, as of old, the wind spirits whispering to each other in the tree tops.

Dear Agnes!--wife of my heart--what does it mean ?" An answer was on the lip of Mrs.Markland, but words so unlooked for, swelled, suddenly, the wave of emotion in her heart, and she could not speak.

A few moments her hand trembled on the arm of her husband.

Then it was softly removed, and without a word, she passed into the house, and going to her own room, shut the door, and sat down in the darkness to commune with her spirit.