Page:Francesca Carrara 2.pdf/162



"And are we English born?" "Art thou the England famed in song?" .

" father a rich and powerful noble, dear Francesca! your future station will be worthy of you!" exclaimed Guido, as they drew their seats closer to the hearth, too much excited to retire to their usual rest.

"I cannot rejoice," replied she; "I feel strangely oppressed, and am for once tempted to indulge those mournful presentiments which I reprove in you. What have I done that fate should deal more gently with me than with my mother? I seem to believe with Arden, that there may be houses with whom ill fortune abides as an heir-loom. I tremble in thinking what humanity may be called upon to endure. Amid this vast and common misery, how dare we hope to escape!"