Have you no orders for me to-day, sir ?" She was about to go, as Gustave raised his downcast eyes and, restraining his tears, exclaimed,-- "I--angry with you, mother Bess ?--and angry, too, because you show affection for our poor Lenora?
Oh, no, no! On the contrary, I bless you for it with all my heart! The tears you betrayed from my heart have done me good; for I am very unhappy.

Life is a burden; and if God, in his mercy, would take me away from earth, I would gladly die.

All hope of seeing her again in this world is gone.

Perhaps she is awaiting me in the next!" "Oh, sir! sir! how you talk!" cried the peasant-woman, in alarm.

"No! no! that cannot be!" "You grieve, my good woman, and shed tears for her," continued Gustave, without heeding the interruption; "but don't you see how _my_ soul must be consumed with despair?
Alas! for months and months I have implored God for the happiness of seeing her once more! I overcame all obstacles to our marriage, and I became almost mad with joy and impatience as I flew like lightning to the home where I left her; and then my only recompense, my only consolation, was to find her _gone_ and the house of her fathers a wilderness!--to know, alas! that she is poor, and, perhaps, languishing in want!--to know that my noble-hearted and beloved Lenora sinks under the weight of misfortune, and yet to be able to do nothing to relieve her!--to be condemned to count in powerless despair her days of affliction, and not even to be sure that suffering has not killed her!" A profound silence followed this complaining outburst, and the peasant-woman, with her head bent to the earth, sympathized with him truly, till, after a few moments, she attempted to console the sufferer in her simple way:-- "Oh, sir, I understand only too well how much you endure! And yet why despair?
Who knows but we may receive some news of our dear young lady when we least expect it?
God is good; he will hear our prayers; and our joy for her return will make us forget all our grief!" "Oh that your prophecy might be realized, my good woman! But seven months have already gone since they departed.