about her marble form.

Paralyzed with wonder, Capitola watched this figure as it glided
about the chamber. The apparition approached the dressing-table,
seemed to take something thence, and then gliding toward the bed, to
Capitola's inexpressible horror drew back the curtains and bent down
and gazed upon her! Capitola had no power to scream, to move or to
avert her gaze from those awful eyes that met her own, until at
length, as the spectral head bent lower, she felt the pressure of a
pair of icy lips upon her brow and closed her eyes!

When she opened them again the vision had departed and the room was
dark and quiet.

There was no more sleep for Capitola. She heard the clock strike
four, and was pleased to find that it was so near day. Still the
time seemed very long to her, who lay there wondering, conjecturing
and speculating on the strange adventure of the night.

When the sun arose she left her restless bed, bathed her excited
head and proceeded to dress herself. When she had finished her
toilet, with the exception of putting on her trinkets, she suddenly
missed a ring that she prized more than she did all her possessions
put together--it was a plain gold band, bearing the inscription
Capitola-Eugene, and which she had been enjoined by her old nurse
never to part from but with life. She had, in her days of
destitution suffered the extremes of cold and hunger; had been upon
the very brink of death from starvation or freezing, but without
ever dreaming of sacrificing her ring. And now for the first time it
was missing. While she was still looking anxiously for the lost