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 of any crimes, and after having so long lived with my wife, why this alarming caution now? Why, I am forbidden to return to her arms by supernatural powers, is beyond my comprehension to define; I see only that there is, there must be, some dreadful cause, and that I am marked out for misery. O, Rhodophil! wretched are the days of those who fail in their first duties, obedience to a parent; and sure destruction follows a father's curse." No longer able to repress his emotions Ferdinand wept aloud.

Rhodophil, who was by this time a little recovered (though his eye was still wandering with an affrighted glance, and his limbs no longer boasted their usual steadiness) sought to speak comfort to his brother: "I will not (said he) tell you that it is possible your senses might be deceived; I am neither credulous, nor superstitious, yet I think you would do right to pay some observance to a warning from the dead, and all that we can infer is, that the union between you and your wife is displeasing to Heaven."—"Where-