Ere death had made it lone.
"Mournfully, O, mournfully,
This midnight wind doth swell!
With its quaint, pensive minstrelsy,
Hope's passionate farewell:
To the dreamy joys of early years,
Ere yet grief's canker fell
On the heart's bloom—ay, well may tears,
Start at that parting knell!"
On the following morning, Mr. and Mrs. Aubrey proposed riding to the village, and expressed a wish to have Fostina and Rineldo accompany them. It was with great reluctance that she gave her consent, thinking that it would be placing herself in the society of her cousin, whose company she wished to avoid.