It stood in the gloomy shadow of a cluster of trees upon the bank; near to it was moored a boat, in which lay at rest the formidable looking-instrument employed to rescue the drowning, or to bring up from the cold depths of the river, the dead.
A cold thrill ran through her frame as she gazed upon it, and she hastened on. The hue of the still river, before so blue and sparkling in its ripples, now seemed to change--to become leaden and motionless. She remembered the dark night when, with cold, sinking heart, she hurried to leap from an arched height into a river’s chill and fatal embrace, that she might there end in a wakeless sleep, her sorrow and her despair.
She remembered the sudden grip of her wrist, the gentle voice in her ear, and the infinite mercy of the great and good God who had saved her in the very moment of committing a mortal sin.
A throng of tears gushed into her eyes. She murmured a prayer of thankfulness to Him for His beneficence to her, and a blessing on Hal for his interposition.
While the soft words of gratefulness yet stirred her quivering lips, her tearful eyes fell upon the pale features of a young, beautiful, and elegantly dressed lady, who was passing beneath a group of trees, seemingly desirous of screening herself from public gaze, and evidently affected with the deepest sadness. Oh! that terrible expression of despair upon her pallid face--that aspect of blank, hopeless woe-begone desolation, which the most accomplished mime or the vilest cheat could never simulate--how sure and perfect an index is it of the utter misery crushing the prostrated heart of those whose countenances bear its fearful impress!
Lotte recognised it. Instantly she felt that so she must have looked when her wretchedness had reached its culminating point. Her easily-awakened sympathy, prompted her to speak to the young lady; but as she advanced with this purpose, she perceived that the object of her interest, observing her, hastily retreated, and hurried away in the direction of Kensington Gardens.
She gazed wistfully after her, and felt impelled to follow, for she knew there was an aching heart beating against a prison grate from which it longed to escape. She would, with earnest fervour, have done her best to pour consolation into the dull ear of the strange lady, and, as far as she could, have softened the anguish of her racked soul, but the young and evidently high-born girl moved so quickly away, that she was beyond the reach of her voice in less than a minute after she detected that she had attracted attention.