sentence from the stars, which are His book? Farewell! high thoughts are
graved upon your brow may they bless you; or, where they fail to bless,
may they console and support. Farewell! I have not yet forgotten to be
grateful, and I still dare to pray."

Thus saying, Lucilla kissed the hand she had held, and turning hastily
away, regained the room she had just left; and, locking the door, left the
stunned and bewildered countess to depart from the melancholy abode. With
faltering steps she quitted the chamber, and at the foot of the stairs the
little Moor awaited her. To her excited fancy there was something eltrich
and preternatural in the gaze of the young African, and the grin of her
pearly teeth, as she opened the door to the visitant. Hastening to her
carriage, which she had left at a corner of the square, the countess
rejoiced when she gained it; and throwing herself back on the luxurious
cushions, felt as exhausted by this starry and weird incident in the epic
of life's common career, as if she had partaken of that overpowering
inspiration which she now almost incredulously asked herself, as she
looked forth on the broad day and the busy streets, if she had really
witnessed.

CHAPTER LXIV.

LUCILLA'S FLIGHT.--THE PERPLEXITY OF LADY ERPINGHAM.--A CHANGE COMES OVER
GODOLPHIN'S MIND.--HIS CONVERSATION WITH RADCLYFFE.--GENERAL
ELECTION.--GODOLPHIN BECOMES A SENATOR.

No human heart ever beat with more pure and generous emotions, when freed
from the political fever that burned within her (withering, for the
moment, the chastened and wholesome impulses of her nature), than those
which animated the heart of the queenly Constance. She sent that evening