Elsie took the pen and wrote, in her sharp Italian
hand,
Elsie Venner, Infelix.
It was a remembrance, doubtless, of the forlorn queen of the "AEneid";
but its coming to her thought in this way confirmed the sensitive
school-girl in her fears for Elsie, and she let fall a tear upon the page
before she closed it.
Of course, the keen and practised observation of Helen Darley could not
fail to notice the change of Elsie's manner and expression. She had long
seen that she was attracted to the young master, and had thought, as the
old Doctor did, that any impression which acted upon her affections might
be the means of awakening a new life in her singularly isolated nature.
Now, however, the concentration of the poor girl's thoughts upon the one
object which had had power to reach her deeper sensibilities was so
painfully revealed in her features, that Helen began to fear once more,
lest Mr. Bernard, in escaping the treacherous violence of an assassin,
had been left to the equally dangerous consequences of a violent,
engrossing passion in the breast of a young creature whose love it would
be ruin to admit and might be deadly to reject.
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