LOVE AND MARRIAGE ARE TWO. Oh, these were only marks of joy, forsooth, For his return in safety! Were they so? And so ye may believe, and so my words May fall unheeded! Be it so; what comes Will nevertheless come. AGAMEMNON OF ÆSCHYLUS. The shadows of the gloomy evening had deepened as he approached the ancient Place of Bruntisfield, and its dark façade, its heavy projecting turrets and barred casements, impressed him with additional sadness. The wind sighed down the lonely avenue, and whirled the fallen leaves as it passed. Many a raven flapped its wings and screamed discordantly above his head, and all such sounds had a powerful effect on him at the time. Confused, despairing, and feeling a sentiment of profound contempt and anger, struggling for mastery with his old and passionate love, his heart seemed about to rend with its conflicting emotions. One sensation was ever present--it was one of desolation and loneliness--that he had nothing more to live for; that the world was all a blank. The light that had long led him on through so many miseries and dangers had vanished from his view: his idol was shattered for ever. He felt that it was impossible to think with calmness; to tear from his breast the dear image and the cherished hopes he had fostered there so long--to exchange admiration for contempt--love for indifference. Oh, no! it could never be. Ages seemed to have elapsed since the sun had set that evening; while his parting with Lilian, the triumph of Killycrankie, the carnage of Steinkirke, and his mission from the King, seemed all the events of yesterday. He felt sick and palsied at heart. Irresistibly impelled to see her, heedless alike of the dangerous charm of her presence and the risk he ran if discovered, his whole soul was bent upon an interview, that he might upbraid her with her perfidy--hurl upon her a mountain of reprobation and bitterness, of obloquy and scorn, and then leave her presence for ever. "I am alone in the world," thought he. "This is my native land--the land where I had garnered up my heart, my hopes, and my wishes, though not one foot of it is mine save the sod that must cover me. Of all the tens of thousands that tread its soil, there is not one now with whom I can claim kindred, who would welcome me in coming, or bless me in departing--not one to shed a tear on the grave where I shall lie. Oh! it is very sad to feel one's self so desolate. Where now are all those brave companions with whom I was once so daring, so joyous, and so gay? Alas! on a hundred fields their bones lie scattered, and I alone survive to mourn the glory of the days that are gone for ever! Oh, never more shall the drum beat or trumpet sound for me! Oh, never more shall love or glory fire my heart again! Oh, never more, for the hour is passed and never can return"--and he almost wept, so intensely bitter were his thoughts of sorrow and regret.