Page:Romance & Reality 3.pdf/285

Rh gazed on her own face—thin, pale,—eye and cheek had equally lost their lustre; her strange and haggard look startled even herself. "I never was so beautiful as she is—and now" A feeling of hatred towards the young Spaniard entered her heart, and she sunk back on the sofa, while her breath came thick with the hurry of evil thoughts. "I wish I had staid in the convent, so that she had staid with me. I might have turned her thoughts against him—told her he was cruel, false. Even now they might be parted." And Emily wished in her heart that the beautiful sleeper might never wake again. It is well for our weak and wicked race that our unrighteous wishes lack the temptation of power. Who dare look into the secret recesses of their soul, and number their crimes of thought? But Emily was too kind, too generous, to allow her bad nature more than a moment's sway. The shadow of the demon passed over her, but rested not.

"My God, have pity and mercy on me! I dare not think my own thoughts. I—I, who love him so! how could I even think of happiness bought by his sorrow? And Beatrice, who