Oh that he had been so happy as to see this woman in the bloom of youthful loveliness! She did not heed his admiring surprise; before acceding to his demand, her regal form trembled from head to foot, and she sighed as she lifted the shroud from her daughter's face.

Then, with a groan, she dropped on her knees by the couch and laid her cheek against that of the dead maiden.

At last she rose, and murmured to the painter that if he were successful in his task her gratitude would be beyond expression.
"What more she said," Alexander went on, "I could but half understand, for she wept all the time, and I could not collect my thoughts.

It was not till afterward that I learned from her waiting-woman--a Christian--that she meant to tell me that the relations and wailing women were to come to-morrow morning.

I could paint on till nightfall, but no longer.