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264 well might, rather for the living than the dead, he essayed, in conformity with the regulations given, to ventilate and fumigate the chamber; that comfortless chamber of death, where presently wrapped in his shroud lay the youthful Aubrey, once so blooming, innocent, and joyous, who in the first short drama of his existence had, in the sweetness and intelligence of his heart and mind, given to his fond approving parents so fair an earnest of the future.

As waters inundate the earth, so affliction in the shape of poverty, sickness, and imprisonment poured heavy upon the head of De Brooke and his partner; but when weighed against that greater one, the loss of that endearing, that amiable child, all their former sorrows appeared but as drops of rain amid the sunshine.