There was no cry of pain; no distortion of the young man's features with agony; no moan, or sob, or sigh. As he closed firmly his right eye, and compressed his pallid lips, a joyous smile lit up his whole countenance that told the spectator how superior even human love is to the body's anguish; how willingly the severest sacrifice falls at the beck of honor! I shall attempt no description of the manner in which I received the astounding news from the lips of the imperturbable Pollexfen; nor prolong this narrative by detailing the meeting of the lovers, their gradual recovery, their marriage, and their departure for the vales of Dauphiny. It is but just to add, however, that Pollexfen added two thousand five hundred dollars to the bank account of Mademoiselle Marmont, on the day of her nuptials, as a bridal present, given, no doubt, partially as a compensation to the heroic husband for his voluntary mutilation. Long months elapsed after the departure of Lucile and her lover before the world heard anything more of the photographer. One day, however, in the early spring of the next season, it was observed that Pollexfen had opened a new and most magnificent gallery upon Montgomery Street, and had painted prominently upon his sign, these words: +----------------------------------------------------+ | JOHN POLLEXFEN, PHOTOGRAPHER. | | | | _Discoverer of the Carbon Process, | | By which Colored Pictures are Painted by the Sun._ | +----------------------------------------------------+ The news of this invention spread, in a short time, over the whole civilized world; and the Emperor Napoleon the Third, with the liberality characteristic of great princes, on hearing from the lips of Lucile a full account of this wonderful discovery, revived, in favor of John Pollexfen, the pension which had been bestowed upon Niépce, and which had lapsed by his death, in 1839; and with a magnanimity that would have rendered still more illustrious his celebrated uncle, revoked the decree of forfeiture against the estates of M. Marmont, and bestowed them, with a corresponding title of nobility, upon Lucile and her issue. This ends my story. I trust the patient reader will excuse its length, for it was all necessary, in order to explain how John Pollexfen made his fortune. [Decoration] [Decoration] VI. _THE LOVE KNOT._ Upon my bosom lies A knot of blue and gray; You ask me why tears fill my eyes As low to you I say: "I had two brothers once, Warmhearted, bold and gay; They left my side--one wore the blue, The other wore the gray. One rode with "Stonewall" and his men, And joined his fate with Lee; The other followed Sherman's march, Triumphant to the sea.