174 Zurnaside Cottage.

afternoon or evening. in this manner, however, I
wiled away many a weary hour of her existence,
and the fits of violence became less and less frequent
and intense. Still, when she was alone, came the
same oft-repeated air, breaking off at the same spot,
never completed, but recommenced only to be
broken off again. This went on until the day
before she died, for although she grew feebler and
feebler, she would not forsake her piano, until her
fingers had no longer strength to press the keys.
It is the same piano that stands in my room now,
and the air she played on it often haunts me still.
I do not know whether the cloud lifted as she died,
I fancied so. There was a look of peace on that
dead face which it had not known for many months
before ; and Rinaldi, who was master of his brush,
made me a sketch from it which I keep among my

treasures,”