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SKETCHES. 3829
formerly they were three. Cecilia should have sat there,
sat between them, if she had not, blinded by love, contrary
to their advice, united herself to a man who was not worthy
of her, and allowed him to tear her from their side; and
now rose again before their fancy the sister’s image in all
its melancholy beauty. Cecilia whom they had so sincerely
loved — Cecilia with her loving, warm soul, her rich natural
gifts, had died in a foreign country, poor, lonely, and de-
serted. Surely, she must ne longed for her home, have
tried in vain to come back to it. Alas! she had suffered
alone, so long, so deeply ; no loving look had comforted her
in the hour of death, no friend’s hand had closed her eyes,
and she had till the last struggled — struggled with stern
necessity. Perchance she had doubted her sisters’ tender-
ness; perhaps she had called them and they had not been
able to answer her. Oh! bitter, bitter memories. The sisters’
eyes met; they were full of tears. Helena rose, and, to
couceal her agitation, she seized the fire-shovel to rake to-
gether the dying embers; but while she did so, anguish was
depicted on her features; tear followed tear, and fell upon
the cold stone. Amelia saw it; she rose, embraced her sis-
ter, leant her forehead upon her shoulder and whispered :
“ Cecilia!”
They were here interrupted by a servant-girl who came
to inform them that a poor woman was standing in the
kitchen, wishing to speak to them.
Helena desired the servant-maid to show the woman
into the room, declining at the same time her sister’s pro-
posal to have the candles lit, “ because,” said she, “her
eyes smarted so much, that she did not think she could
bear the light.”
After a short while the stranger entered. In the dying
light from the fire-place her features could not be distin-
guished. She stopped short at the door, and stood there
in the dusk like a shadow, silent and immovable.
A kind of awe came over the two sisters, and with unea-
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