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ETHEL CHURCHILL.
55

right. I know how different I am from those who surround me. Can the gifts of which I am conscious be given to me in vain? It were a mockery of the mind's supremacy, did I not believe in my own future?

He turned again in the direction of the turret-window, and the large, round moon shone above the old trees. It seemed as if she looked down tenderly and lovingly on that dearest spot.

"Ah, sweetest and loveliest!" exclaimed the watcher, "would to heaven those days were not past when the troubadour took his sword and lute, and taught far courts the light of his lady's eyes, and the music of her name! But the sympathy to which he appealed yet remains. There are still human hearts to be stirred by the haunted line, and the gifted word. My page may be read by those who will feel its deep and true meaning, because, like myself, they have loved and suffered. Farewell, sweetest Ethel! we, perhaps, shall meet no more, but you will hear of me; and the remembered beauty of that face will be