taking an affectionate farewell of his kind-hearted friends, stepped into it also, and was once more on his way towards the Tower. Although Aaltje much wished to caution her son against attempting to renew his intimacy with Clara, his late spirited conduct was a curb upon her tongue, and she had so much self command as not once to mention her name during their drive. When they drew near the tower, she observed with dismay, that the eyes of Huyp wandered in the direction of the villa. Willing to attract his attention to another subject, she said— 66 What, can you not kennen the old tower of the Dordrechts, Huyp? There it is, a little to the left, jongeling, just beyond Katryn's boeren hut." 66 And yonder stands the villa," replied Huyp with a sigh, pointing it out to his mother-"it was there we parted." Fortunately for Aaltje, the carriage at this moment rattled over the drawbridge, which still kept its place over the wide moat by which the tower was surrounded. She found that Clara had still preserved her power over the heart of Huyp, and trembled to, think that perhaps she might, even yet, be compelled to acknowledge her for her daughter. Still she was resolved to prevent it if 'possible, though she knew by so doing she was staking her own wishes on a desperate game, in which all the chances were against her. CHAPTER XXXII. Fear is true love's cruel nurse. Coleridge-Sibylline Leaves : /Virtue Lends from her unsullied source, The gems of thought their purest force. CLARA had suffered greatly during the absence of Huyp. She accused herself of having been the cause of his misfortunes, and lamented greatly that he should have indulged a pertinacity which would, in all probability, prove fatal to his advancement in life. however, she had to experience a more Soon severe trial. The intelligence of Huyp's supposed melancholy fate was soon spread throughout the neighbourhood of Dordrecht Tower, and reached the ears of the Princess, who incautiously communicated the sad tidings to the unhappy Clara. Agitated as she had previously been, this was a blow which she knew not how to bear. The charm which had before helped to soothe her troubled mind was now broken and dissolved, and vanished like the light circlets spread over the bosom of a clear, mirror-like pool, when some wild flower drops from its stem, and floats near the marge of the stream. Anxious and troubled were the days and nights which succeeded. Clara found, that her firmness of mind was shaken, and at times her reason almost seemed to forsake her. Innocent as she was, she could not help considering herself as little better than the destroyer of the generous-hearted Huyp, and had it been possible to have recalled the past, and to have restored him, she would willingly have broken the resolution to which she had so tenaciously adhered, and united her fate with his, regardless of the anger of his family, Her health daily declined-she became pale and emaciated, and a settled melancholy spread like a dense cloud over her countenance. She seemed to live like one who waited anxiously for the moment which would emancipate, her from the thraldom of existence. For hours she would sit silently gazing on the portrait of her father, and a tear of heartfelt agony would steal down her pallid cheek when she called to mind, that he, who gave her that treasure, like him, had perished untimely. The Princess Hyacintha who had become most affectionately attached to the sweet girl, strove to inspire her with the hope that the misfortune had been |