Death had touched her lovingly, for there was almost a smile upon her lips; and the hard lines which the world traces upon the countenance had disappeared beneath his gentle pressure.

The count stood gloomily beside her bed, awaiting the arrival of the physician who had been summoned. He trembled violently, but he was surrounded by the voice of wailing and the sight of tears; he had lost his only sister, his last relative. How, then, could he have remained unmoved? The physician came; he felt the small and rounded wrists, but there was no pulsation: he bared the white and beautiful arm to the shoulder, and applied the lancet, but the blood had ceased to circulate in the blue veins. The man of science shook his head, and extended his hand in sympathy to the anxious brother. The catastrophe, he said, was subject of regret to him rather than of surprise. The young gräfine had long suffered from an affection of the heart. A little sooner or a little later the blow must have fallen. It was a mere question of time. All human aid was useless. And so he departed from the house of mourning.

of his mother, and who had, upon her mar-rosary.
riage, followed her from her home, and ul-
timately become his nurse. A shuddering
thrill passed through his veins, for he was
awaiting her. She was accustomed each
night, after his sister had retired, to prepare
for both a draught of lemonade as their
night-beverage, and first leaving one with
her young master, to carry the other to the
chamber of the countess. Her appearance
was therefore anticipated; and she remain-
ed for an instant, as usual, in order to re-
ceive the praise which her beloved nurse-
ling never failed to lavish upon her skill;
but, for the first time, Elric objected to the
flavor of the draught, and requested her to
bring him a lemon that he might augment
its acidity. The discomfited old woman
obeyed, and having deposited her salver
upon the table, left the room. Elric start
ed up, grasped a mass of his dishevelled
hair in his hand with a violence which
threatened to rend it from the roots, uttered
one groan which seemed to tear asunder
all the fibres of his heart, and then glared
about him, rapidly but searchingly, ere he
drew the fatal phial from his breast, and
slowly, gloatingly poured out the whole of
the liquid into the porcelain cup which had
been prepared for his sister. As he did
so, a slight acrid scent diffused itself over
the apartment, but almost instantly evapor-
ated, and the death-draught remained as
clear and limpid as before.

To-morrow!" murmured the wretched young man, as he watched the retiring form of the grey-haired attendant when she finally left the room; and then he once more buried his face in his hands, and fell into a state of torpor.

"To-morrow!" he repeated, as he at length rose, staggeringly, to seek his cham"Mina, beloved Mina, I have bought you at a fearful price!"

ber.

CHAPTER III.

The few individuals of Nienburg and its immediate neighborhood who were privileged to intrude at such a moment, crowded to the mansion to offer their condolences to the young graf, and to talk over the sudden and melancholy death of his sister; and meanwhile, Elric, unable to rest for an instant in the same place, wandered through the desolate apartments, tearless and silent, occasionally lifting the different articles which had belonged to Stephanie in his trembling hands, and looking intently upon them, as though he dreaded to behold the characters of his crime traced upon their surface.

The German ceremonial of interment is complicated and minute, and all persons of high birth are expected to conform to it in every particular. Among the rites which precede burial is one which, trying as it The voice of lamentation was loud upon cannot fail to prove to the principal actor, the morrow in that ancient house. The must, nevertheless, greatly tend to tranquilCountess Stephanie had ceased to exist. lize the minds of the survivors. It is neThe aged nurse had drawn back the cur- cessary that we should describe this. tains of the window, that her mistress might, For four-and-twenty hours the corpse reas usual, be awakened by the cheerful sun-mains beneath the roof where the death has light; but she was no longer conscious of its beams. She lay upon her bed, pale, placid, and unchanged, like one who had passed from the calm slumber of repose to the deep sleep of death. One hand pillowed her cheek, and the other still clasped her

taken place, and while there all the affecting offices necessary to its final burial are performed. This time elapsed, it is carried to the cemetery, and laid, in its windingsheet, upon a bed in the inner apartment of the low stone building to which, in our

description of the death-valley of Nienburg, we have already made allusion. This solitary erection consists only of two rooms; that in which the body is deposited is called the Hall of Resurrection, and contains no other furniture than the bed itself and a bell-rope, the end of which is placed in the hand of the corpse. This cord is attached to a bell which rings in the next room, and which is thence called the Chamber of the Bell. Thus, should it occur that the friends of an individual may have been deceived, and have mistaken lethargy for death, and that the patient should awake during the night (for the body must remain all night in this gloomy refuge), the slightest movement which he may make necessarily rings the bell, and he obtains instant help. It is customary for the nearest relative to keep this dreary watch; and from a beautiful sentiment, which must almost tend to reconcile the watcher to his ghostly task, he is fated to watch there alone, that it may be he who calls back the ebbing life, and that none may share in a joy so holy and so deep-a joy, moreover, so rare and so unhoped for!

what? With the dead, stretched there by his own hand-With his murdered sister! This was his companionship within; and without, graves, nothing but graves, sheeted corpses, and the yawning tomb which was awaiting his victim. The sweat rolled in large drops down the forehead of the young man. He had watched near the body of his mother in peace and prayer, for she had been taken from him, and he was innocent then, and full of hope; but now--now! He tottered to the window and looked out. The twilight was thickening, and the light came pale through the narrow leaded panes of the little casement. He glanced around the sepulchral chamber in which he was to pass the night. There was a small fire burning upon the open hearth at which he lighted his lamp, and a prayer-book lying upon the table, on which he vainly endeavored to concentrate his thoughts. At that moment he was beyond the reach of prayer!" The strong man was bowed, body and spirit, beneath the pressure of his crime! Again and again he asked himself, with a pertinacity that bordered on delirium, what it was over which he watched? And again and again the question was answered in his own heart. Over his sister, his only surviving relative, murdered by his own hand. The murderer was watching beside his victim!

The long day, and the still longer night in which the Countess Stephanie lay dead beneath the roof she had so reverenced throughout her life, passed over; and all the pompous accessories which could be commanded in so obscure a neighborhood At intervals he strove against the horror were secured to do honor to her obsequies. by which he was oppressed; he endeavored The mournful train moved slowly onward to rally the pride of his sex and of his to the cemetery, where a grave had already strength. What could he fear? The dead been prepared for her beside her mother; are powerless over the living; and yet, and, passing near the spot where she was fiercer and sharper came the memory that finally to rest, entered the Hall of Resur- his crime had been gratuitous, for had he rection, and gently and carefully stretched not been told that the death which he had her upon the bed of gloom. The wildest of given must ere long have come? "A litthe mourners was the poor old nurse, who, tle sooner, or a little later," had said the with her grey hair streaming over her shoul- man of science. Oh, had he only waited, ders, and her dim eyes swollen with tears, promised, temporised; but all was now too knelt near the head of her mistress, and late! She lay there cold, pale, stark, withclasped her clay-cold hands. But it was the in a few paces of him, and tears of blood young count who was the centre of com- could not recall the dead! miseration. The last four-and-twenty hours had done the work of years upon him; a sullen, leaden tinge had spread over his skin, his voice was deep and hollow, and his trembling hands could scarcely perform their offices. "No wonder!" ejaculated those who looked upon him; "for years they had been every thing to each other."

It was the close of autumn, and as the sun set, masses of lurid and sulphureous clouds gathered upon the western horizon, but save an occasional sweep of wind which moaned through the funereal trees, all remained still, buried in that ringing silence which may be heard; and the moon, as yet untouched by the rising vapors, gleamed on At length the funeral train departed, for the narrow window of the cell, and cast the sun was setting. Elric listened in hor-upon the floor the quivering shadows of the ror to their retreating footsteps, for he felt trees beside it. But at length came midthat he was soon to be alone. Alone with night, the moon was veiled in clouds, and

a sweeping wind rushed through the long the cell, he still heard the maddening peal, grass upon the graves, and swayed to and which seemed to split his brain. fro the tall branches of the yews and cy- Light! light!" he moaned at last, as presses; next came the sound of falling rain, he rose painfully from the floor. "I must large, heavy drops, which plashed upon the have light, or I shall become a raving mafoliage, and then fell with a sullen reverbeniac."

His voice became extinct; he could not utter the name of his sister.

ration upon the dry and thirsty earth. Gra- And then he strove to re-illumine the dually the storm increased; and ere long, lamp; but his shaking hand ill obeyed the as the thunder began to growl hoarsely in impulse of his frenzied will. And still, the distance, it beat angrily against the without the intermission of a second, the diamond panes, and dropped in a shower bell rang on. At length he obtained a from the eaves of the little building. Elric light, and staggering to the wall, he fixed his breathed more freely. This elemental war-eyes upon the frightful wire. fare was more congenial to his troubled "It stretches," he muttered, unconsciousspirit than the fearful silence by which it ly; "still it stretches, and there is no wind had been preceded. He tried to think of now; there is a lull. Some one must be Mina; but as though her pure and innocent pulling it from the other chamber, and if image could not blend with the objects so, it must be around him, he found it impossible to pursue a continuous chain of thought. Once more he bent over the book before him, but With a frantic gesture he seized the lamp as he turned the page a sudden light filled and turned towards the door which opened the narrow chamber, and through the into the death-chamber, and still the bell sheeted glare sprang a fierce flash, which rang on, without the cessation of an infor a moment seemed to destroy his power stant. A short passage parted the two of vision. He rose hurriedly from his chair; cells, and as he staggered onwards he was the thunder appeared to be bursting over compelled to cling to the wall, for his knees his head, the lightning danced like fiery knocked together, and he could scarcely demons across the floor, the wind howled support himself. At length he reached the and roared in the wide chimney; and sud-inner door, and desperately flung it open. denly, as he stood there, aghast and con- A chill like that which escapes from a vault science-stricken, a sharp blast penetrating through some aperture in the walls, extinguished his solitary lamp. At this instant the bell rang.

fell upon his brow, and the sound of the bell pursued him still. He moved a pace forward, retreated, again advanced, and, finally, by a mighty effort, sprang into the centre of the chamber. One shrill and piercing cry escaped him, and the lamp fell from his hand.

"The Bell!" shouted the young count, like a maniac,-—“ THE BELL!” And then, gaining strength from his excess of horror, he laughed as wildly as he had spoken. "Fool that I am! Is not such a wind as this enough to shake the very edifice from its foundation? and am I scared because it has vibrated along a wire? Has not the same blast put out my lamp? All is still again. My own thoughts have made a cow-mixed the deadly draught is ready to lay ard of me!" me in the grave!'

As he uttered these words, another and a brighter flash shot through the casement and ran along the wire, and again the bell rang out; but his eye had been upon it, and he could no longer cheat himself into the belief that he had endeavored to create. The fiery vapor had disappeared, but still louder and louder rang the bell, as though pulled by a hand of agony.

Elric sank helpless to his knees. At every successive flash he saw the violent motion of the bell which hung above him, and as the darkness again gathered about

"You are then here?" murmured a low and feeble voice. "You, Elric von Königstein, the renegade from honor, the sororicide, the would-be murderer! Yours is the affection which watches over my last hours on earth! The same hand which

יי!

As the words fell upon his ear, a vivid flash filled the room, and the count saw his sister sitting upright wrapped in her deathclothes. A deep groan escaped him. "That draught was scarcely swallowed," pursued the voice, ere I detected that it had been tampered with; but it was then too late to save myself, and, for the honor of our name, I shrank from denouncing you, though I felt at once that you were the murderer. But you were coward as well as sororicide. You have subjected me to all the agonies of death, and have not

merely condemned me to an after-life of suffering, but of suffering to us both, for I shall live on under the knowledge of the fate to which you destined me, and you beneath my irrevocable curse."

The last few sentences were uttered feebly and gaspingly, as though the strength of the speaker were spent, and then a heavy fall upon the bed betrayed to the horrorstricken Elric that some fresh catastrophe had occurred.

great nebulæ in Orion, which is visible to the naked eye, and which retained the same aspect of a faint, diffused, irresolvable haze to Herschel's large reflector, has, when subjected to the still higher power of this searcher of the heavens, distinctly presented itself as a firmament of stars. And the resolution of this most decided of all the other will be found to resist the powers of this nebulæ leaves very little probability that any instrument; that, in short, any such diffusion of unaggregated or aggregating matter as was defined by the name nebula exists in the heavens.

The existence of these bodies has never before been doubted; though many rejected the hy pothesis as to a formative process through which the heavenly orbs had passed, which had been founded on their existence and appearances; and others, while willing to give the hypothesis all the consideration due to it, as in the circumstances a most probable speculation, protested against the unwarrantable use which was being made of it as a proven generalization. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the whole nebula speculation now the abstractive probabilities in favor of its truth, falls to the ground; that, at least, whatever be inductive evidence for it can no longer be shown.

With the energy of despair he rushed from the room, and hastened to procure a light. A frightful spectacle met him on his return. Stephanie lay across the bed, with a portion of her funeral-dress displaced. The arm with which she had rung the fatal bell was that from which her medical attendant had striven to procure blood during her insensibility, and which, in preparing her for the grave, had been unbound. The violent exertion to which it had been-British Quarterly Review. subjected, added to the power of the poison that still lurked in her veins, had opened the wound, and ere the young count returned with the lamp she was indeed a corpse, with her white burial-garments dabbled in blood. The scene told its own tale on the morrow. She had partially awakened, and the result was evident. None knew, save he who watched beside her, that the fatal bell had rung!

The curse worked. Madness seized upon the wretched Elric, and for years he was a raving lunatic, who might at any moment be lashed into frenzy by the mere ringing of a bell.

SHOULD STUDY BE CONFINED ΤΟ ONE SUBGerman Literature, delivered at Manchester by JECT?-In a series of lectures on the study of Mr. George Dawson of Birmingham, the following remarks (quoted from the Manchester Examiner's report) are made - Sometimes you heard men warning people against a dissipation of horting them to confine their attention to one study, against studying too many things, and exthing. Now, up to a certain time, he considered that this was bad advice He did not think that this should be the foundation of culture to those to whom literature was a secondary thing. They should in early life gather in a variety of knowledge--form, as it were, a good weft--and then inweave the particular study which after-life required should be the pattern on the cloth. For a literary man, he need not say how necessary total culture was. He had before protested against fractional studies, as contradistinguished from a subdivision of labor in teaching. To exhort people to cultivate one branch of knowledge to the THE NEBULE-An announcement has been exclusion of every thing else, was like urging one recently made, which renders it in the highest man to direct his efforts solely to the strengthen degree probable that all of that class of appearing of his right arm, another of his left, a third ances in the heavens which have been known by of his feet, and so on. One man recommended the name of nebulæ, and which have been repre- you to cultivate the exact sciences only, and sented as anomalous in many of their features, hence society had been supplied with men who are not so; that the so-called nebula have no ex- were mathematicians only--men whose gospel istence whatever. We were aware, that some was a right angle, and whose religion was a cirof the faint spots included under that name, had, cle. In other cases, men had become so engrosson examination by the powerful telescope con-ed with a particular study, that they would spend structed by Lord Rosse, assumed an appearance an enormous amount of time in settling the quanwhich proved them to be vast clusters or firma-ity of a Greek syllable, and write most elaborate ments of stars; had been, as it is called, resolved, or had put on the resolvable aspect. But those which, up to that time, had been examined, were almost entirely such as, lying on the furthest confines to which former instruments had penetrated, might have been in very many cases expected to prove not true nebula, but very remote clusters: while others seemed at that time to defy resolu tion. It is now, however, announced that the

treatises on the Greek digamma. A fully-cultured man could turn his attention to any thing; and, when fully cultured, he should turn to the division of labor which stern necessity imposed upon him. Sometimes, however, natural propensity would come in to check this. Nevertheless, we should all aim at what the Germans called "many-sidedness;" so that, whichever way we turned, there might be a polished side presented.'

Hence are our hearts bewilder'd in their choice,
And hence our feet from Virtue led astray:
Truth calls imperious with repulsive voice
To follow on a steep and rugged way;
While Beauty beckons us along a gay

And flowery path, that leads, with treacherous slope,

To gulfs remote from happiness or hope..

Who will bring back the world's unblemish'd youth

When these two wander'd ever hand in hand;
When Truth was Beauty, Beauty too was Truth,
So link'd together with unbroken band,
That they were one; and Man, at their command,
Tasted of sweets that never knew alloy,
And trod the path of Duty and of Joy?

Chiefly the Poet's power may work the change:
His heavenly gift, impell'd by holy zeal,
O'er Truth's exhaustless stores may brightly
range,