She remembered the sudden grip of her wrist, the gentle voice in her ear, and the infinite mercy of the great and good God who had saved her in the very moment of committing a mortal sin.
A throng of tears gushed into her eyes. She murmured a prayer of thankfulness to Him for His beneficence to her, and a blessing on Hal for his interposition.
While the soft words of gratefulness yet stirred her quivering lips, her tearful eyes fell upon the pale features of a young, beautiful, and elegantly dressed lady, who was passing beneath a group of trees, seemingly desirous of screening herself from public gaze, and evidently affected with the deepest sadness. Oh! that terrible expression of despair upon her pallid face—that aspect of blank, hopeless woe-begone desolation, which the most accomplished mime or the vilest cheat could never simulate—how sure and perfect an index is it of the utter misery crushing the prostrated heart of those whose countenances bear its fearful impress!
Lotte recognised it. Instantly she felt that so she must have looked when her wretchedness had reached its culminating point. Her easily-awakened sympathy, prompted her to speak to the young lady; but as she advanced with this purpose, she perceived that the object of her interest, observing her, hastily retreated, and hurried away in the direction of Kensington Gardens.
She gazed wistfully after her, and felt impelled to follow, for she knew there was an aching heart beating against a prison grate from which it longed to escape. She would, with earnest fervour, have done her best to pour consolation into the dull ear of the strange lady, and, as far as she could, have softened the anguish of her racked soul, but the young and evidently high-born girl moved so quickly away, that she was beyond the reach of her voice in less than a minute after she detected that she had attracted attention.
Lotte, therefore, proceeded upon her mission, was received with magnificent condescension by the stately mistress of the splendid mansion to whom she had been accredited, endured much patronage as she took her instructions, was honoured with a glass of wine and a piece of cake after her walk, permitted to retire at the proper moment, was winked at by the footman who conducted her out, and who thought her “a jewced nice gal,” and found herself in the square, uncertain which route to take on her return to her own dear little paradise of a room.
Her decision was formed for her. She had been unable to chase from her brain a vision of the pale woe-smitten face she had seen in the park. It haunted her from the moment the reality faded from her sight; it settled before her, the large eyes gazing upon her own sadly and steadfastly, while she listened to details of juvenile dress; it grew brighter and more vivid when alone in the deepening twilight, and it seemed to glow with brighter aspect as she turned herself to retrace her steps through the park again, and pass the spot where she had seen the wan features, which she had an indistinct, undefined impression she had known under happier circumstances.
“I should, perhaps, be less anxious about her,” she thought, “but for that ugly, death-scented water.” She shuddered. “God preserve her from seeking rashly such a grave as that!”
She pressed on towards the spot where she had encountered the young lady, who had so strongly and so strangely excited her interest. On reaching it, she was scarcely surprised to discern, in the murky obscurity occasioned by the umbrageous foliage of many trees, whose branches intertwined, a shadowy phantom like a female, pacing agitatedly on the narrow pathway beneath.
Lotte glided noiselessly up to her, for she knew that she now beheld the same young creature she had before seen, though her mental agony, expressed by her excited movements, appeared to have increased in intensity since she had quitted her. As Lotte gained her side, she heard with a sharp pang her choking sob of acute misery. She saw her wring her hands in despairing agony, and then Lotte placed her lingers lightly upon her shoulder.