During another week of breezeless autumn calm, this strange drama was
re-enacted many times before us, with each time a deepening of the
tragic shades that were gathering above it. But even after it became
evident that the sweet evening air had no balm for the drooping girl,
she loved to look out on the glories of the sunset, as if conscious
that soon she should behold them no more forever. And when her strength
no longer enabled her to walk, her nurse carried her out like a child
in his arms.
But this also ceased after a time, and the hope that our transplanted
blossom would ever flourish on a new soil had already faded from the
bosom of the most sanguine among us, when one evening the guardian
genius of the cabin beckoned to me from its portal. My entrance seemed
to arouse the fair invalid, who was reclined upon a couch. The
enchanting halo of her perfect beauty was unabated by disease; and she
was surrounded by articles so rare, so costly, and in such profusion,
as to force themselves upon my attention even in that first glance.
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