and then, as the object of her solicitude disappears among the trees, she draws a long sigh; a mutter is heard"some accident" are the only words distinguishable; a bang of the door follows, and the affectionate nurse iswhat?probably wiping her eyes in the passage.

The mutter became momentarily a deep-throated chuckle of malice.

A confused muttering was the forester's only answer; like most blunt people, he repented easily.

During the next months a few cynical mutterings are the only interruptions to an ominous silence; but these could be easily explained by the increasing embarrassment of the poet's affairs, and the importunity of creditors, who in the course of the last half-year had served seven or eight executions on his house and furniture.