I answered,--

"Yes, Miss Axtell, it was in here."

"Where is the rest?" and her beautiful eyes were coruscant.

I handed to her the last of the trophies of my first visit. She seized

it eagerly.

"Don't do that," said Mr. Axtell, as she lighted it from the lamp he

held. But she was not to be stayed; she held it aloft until the fire

came down and touched her fingers; then she dropped it, burning still,

down to the stone floor, far below.

She seemed helpless then; she looked as she did when a few hours before

she had said, "I want some one to help me."

"Oh!--I've--lost--something!" and she tolled the words out, as slowly as

the notes of the passing bell.

"What is it, Lettie? Come home; the day is breaking"; and Mr. Axtell put

his arm about her.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 60, October, 1862 A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics · 第 21 / 69 题