forehead flushed to so deep a tint, that they appeared to burn with the fire of her own blood; then she closed her heavy lids forcibly, as if to shut out sight and thought in the same instant; and pressing her hands violently on her bosom, sank back in her seat, as the returning blood fled to her heart, and left her cheek and brow pale and colourless. Deep was the emotion of the prince, as for a moment he stood in anticipation of a disclosure of the fatal secret; but the princess uttered no exclamation, and the momentary dread was succeeded by equally-painful, though less-dangerous sensations. He approached the royal sufferer, he threw his arm around her wasted form; ás he sank on his knee beside her seat, he strove to speak of comfort; but at that moment the princess cast one look on him, and then reclosed her dark dim eyes-that look checked his utterancetransient as it was, it taught him all the sacredness of her sorrow, and he profaned it not. Little less agonized was the lord

of Canterbury, but after the lapse of a few seconds, he approached the mourner, and gently murmured, "By all the reverence which you yield me as a churchman, I beseech you, royal lady, to retireremember your secret-what may you not betray by your emotion!"

Even in that moment, the princess remembered what she owed to herself as the daughter of a monarch, and slowly and painfully she essayed to rise; the supporting arm of her brother upheld her in the effort, and with tottering and unsteady steps, she was retiring from the apartment, when the king emerged from the recess with De Senlis, and notwithstanding the interest of the moment, he failed not to perceive the alarming change which so short a period had produced in his royal daughter, and with fond solicitude he sought to learn what had augmented her malady.

"The pain is here, royal sir," said the princess, pressing her right hand on her heart, as she turned her tearless eyes on

the king: "but I shall not suffer longthere is a cure for it."

"May Heaven hasten that cure!" fervently exclaimed William.

"Amen!" murmured the princess, as she again sank into the arms of the prince Robert, who bore her with trembling haste to her own chamber.

When the weeping ladies received his precious and now insensible burthen from the son of William, various were the expressions of wonder and dismay which mingled with their sobs; but none guessed the cause of her fatal malady-none therefore could divine that of its augmented violence.

The prince Robert returned to the royal apartment; he saw, as he entered, that the lord De Lacy was in the presence, but his heart sickened as he looked on his triumphant countenance, and he averted his eyes; he heard the monarch lauding, with emphatic graciousness, the zeal of the Gallic noble; but he almost cursed, in the secresy of his own soul, the act which

had perchance saved the crown that would one day be his, for he thought on her het had quitted: he saw that the heart which had been so long strained by misery, was now breaking, and as he again looked on the lord Gualtier, he almost fancied him her murderer: he noted that De Lacy addressed him, during a pause made by the king, with courtly and graceful humility; he knew not the import of his words, but he rightly guessed, that the young Gaul craved his forgetfulness of their last conference; the thoughts of the prince royal in that moment glanced at the mightier pang which the lord Gualtier had inflicted even in that hour; but he struggled to overcome the emotions which were absorbing him; and as the prince for a moment triumphed over the brother, he solemnly uttered, My lord, I pardon you;" and then, as if tortured by the ef fort, abruptly quitted the apartment.

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With eager and disordered step, the son of William again sought the chamber of the princess Agatha; the door was

softly opened by the lady Eulelia, who respectfully motioned the prince to silence, as she led him forward, and gently murmured, "I am alone with my royal mistress, your highness; for I thought that she slept, and would need quietude." The prince cautiously advanced, and as he reached the side of the couch on which lay his beloved and almost-expiring sister, she uttered in a sepulchral tone, "De Lacy, may the heart which you have broken, never teach your own its bitterness!" The lady Eulelia started with dismay, but none heeded her. The prince had his back towards her, as he bent over the sufferer-the eyes of the princess were closed, her form listless, and her voice hollowhe felt that she was unconscious of her own utterance; yet the words thrilled to his soul. A few moments only had elapsed, since he had spoken pardon to De Lacy; but now, when the gentle being who, even in this hour, breathed but the accents of peace and love-when he saw her before him, living, but so darkly, that