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14 and Lorraine saw evidently that she was sleeping. To withdraw as quietly as possible seemed his best plan; when the entrance of Beatrice induced him to hesitate. Signing to him for silence, she bent over her mother for a moment, drew a branch closer to exclude the sun from her face; and, with a step so light that even to Lorraine's ear it was inaudible, she left the arbour, beckoning him to follow. "I feared this," said she, her dark eyes filling with tears, whose softness was but momentary, so instantly were they checked. "My poor mother!—God forbid you should ever know what she has suffered!—Think what must have been the wretchedness that has left her a child in mind." The truth flashed on Edward. Desolate then, indeed, was the situation of the young creature before him. It is very difficult to express sympathy to one who evidently shrinks from such expression. They walked on in silence till they came to where the negro was at work. "I cannot leave my mother; when she wakes, she would be so alarmed to find herself alone, and her sleep is as transient as it is uncertain; but the country round is well worth