was gone I sat down in despair, with my face
between my hands. I had no further
resource but my mother's ring, and this I was
determined to keep. The day passed away
and I tasted no food. The next day I fasted
also. I was determined, if at length I gave
way to hunger, at least not to do so without
such a struggle as should console me in after-
times for breaking my resolution. The sun
shone brightly that day, and I heard my
neighbour singing with her window open,
where I had often seen her, above the trees.
I went to bed early to forget the pangs of
hunger, but I could not sleep. A gnawing in
the stomach, accompanied by heat and thirst,
kept me awake till the light streamed in
through the long narrow windows. Then I
heard my neighbour again moving briskly in
the next apartment. Presently I heard her
open and fasten back the long wooden screens
or jalousies, which close from the outside of
all the windows in Paris. Then, like a bird
at the sight of a fine morning, she began to
sing again, till the day grew more advanced,
and I heard the noise of people in the street.
She descended the stairs, and I saw her
cross the yard, with her graceful little cap,
which all French women wear in the morning,
and carrying in her hand a basket of woven
straw, such as the French prisoners made and
sold in England at the time of the last war.

I could hardly stand for faintness; I waited
till I thought it late enough to find some
jeweller's shop open, and then, taking my
ring, I crept down stairs noiselessly, as if I
were about to do some shameful deed. Oh,
how happy and gay seemed everything in. the
streets compared with me! The sun shone,
and the air was so calm and clear, and the
faces of the people so cheerful, as they passed
to and fro under the long lines of trees upon
the Boulevards. I soon found a goldsmith,
where I offered my ring. The man eyed me
attentively for a moment, for there was
something suspicious in coming to sell a
ring at that early hour. However, he seemed
satisfied with my appearance, and having
examined the stone, and tested the gold with
aqua-fortis, he offered me sixty francs— I
believe two-thirds of its value— but I accepted
them and departed.

The occupant of the "other garret" seemed
to haunt me. I met her as I crossed the
threshold of the jeweller's door, returning
with her little basket full—a long loaf and
a melon forcing up the lid. I bid her good
morning, and passed on. I entered a Restaurant
and asked for breakfast, of which I ate
heartily, though I was careful not to eat
too much, after my long fast. But, in spite
of my precautions, I felt extremely ill. My
eyes were glazed; my lips (as I saw in the
glass) were black and parched, and I trembled
from head to foot. I do not remember how I
spent that day, but all night long I lay in
bed, burnt up with fever, and haunted by
wild dreams.

Sometimes I seemed to walk between high
leaning walls, that threatened to topple
down and crush me; and I quickened my
pace to escape from them, but their length was
interminable. At others, I climbed in darkness
up a spiral staircase to the roof of some
great cathedral; I heard the rolling of organs,
like low thunder; I climbed, and climbed,
fearing to be stifled, till, at length, I issued on
the roof; and looking down from the dreadful
height, I saw a great city spread below, and
far away broad fields, and hill tops crowned
with windmills. A fear of falling took hold
of me, but I could not recede; and I called
aloud for some one to come and drag me
back to the little door. Then, perplexed
with the sudden change, and asking myself
whether I dreamed or not, I stood in a level
country, where there were long broad ditches,
filled with flags and bulrushes, and bordered
by stunted willows. Here and there was a
stagnant pond, its scummy surface shot
with purple and green, its long feathered
grasses haunted by splendid dragon-flies; for
it was a deep still noontide, and a blue and
dazzling sky shut in all that broad landscape.
And, although I had thought myself the only
living being there and—although my mother
had been dead for many years—I turned round,
and found her standing by me without
surprise. She bade me go with her, and see
what she would show me. Soon we stood
upon a wide road, and, as I guessed, upon
the outskirts of a great city, for I heard
a noise of a multitude far off. Presently we
entered the city by a gate; and we looked
down a broad street, lined on each side with
temples, and great houses— an endless line of
pillars, for the street seemed to traverse the
whole city: and at the bottom, far away, we
saw blue mountains stretching out into the
sky. We walked towards them—a great
crowd accompanying us till we issued by
another gate, and saw the fields again. It
suddenly grew dark; but the crowd
continued to pour outward by the city gates.
After a long time of darkness, I looked up,
and saw a faint flush of light around the
horizon; and as it grew not only in the east,
but in the west, and in every direction, I
saw the edges of hills, and the spires of fir
plantations against the sky— I said, "It is
not the daybreak, but the coming of a great,
wonder." And I heard my mother's voice,
saying, " Fear nothing; you have kept the
ring I gave you, and your love for me shall
wipe out many sins." Then a great fear
seized me, and I called upon her by name,
and would have held her by her garment,
but she was gone. Meanwhile, I prayed
upon my knees, and I heard the stir of the
voiceless multitude around me, and the light
increased, and I fell upon my knees and wept.

I do not know who found out first that I
lay ill. Throughout the next day, I was half-
awake, with a consciousness of some one
moving in the room; and in the evening, a