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286 were those affectionate eyes closed in even that passing oblivion. When forced to leave him, which she could never be prevailed upon to do till utterly exhausted, she would sleep heavily for some hours; but the first moment of waking was fearful. She would start from her pillow and rush to his room, and, when Lucy's gentle smile reassured her, lean, faint and breathless, against the wall, till relieved by tears; while the meeting between her and Guido was like the tender welcome given after a long absence.

"You are very weak to-day, dearest," exclaimed Francesca, as her arm supported Guido's head.

"And yet I feel all my faculties so strong within me—my memory so clear, my imagination so powerful—that I cannot think that I shall die so soon as I had hoped."

"Hoped?" whispered his sister.

"Alas!" replied he, "we are selfish even on our death-bed: and I have desired relief even at the cost at rending asunder life's last and fondest link."

"It is I that am selfish," murmured she. "God knows, we ought to be thankful when those we love stand on the verge of another existence. It may be better, it cannot be worse, than our present