She conceived a positive hatred to Lucille; she persisted in imagining that nothing but the accident of first acquaintance had deprived her of a conquest with which she persuaded herself her happiness had become connected. Had St. Amand never loved Lucille, and proposed to Julie, his misfortune would have made her reject him, despite his wealth and his youth; but to be Lucille's lover, and a conquest to be won from Lucille, raised him instantly to an importance not his own. Safe, however, in his affliction, the arts and beauty of Julie fell harmless on the fidelity of St. Amand. Nay, he liked her less than ever, for it seemed an impertinence in any one to counterfeit the anxiety and watchfulness of Lucille. "It is time, surely it is time, Madame Le Tisseur, that Lucille should return. She might have sold all the lace in Malines by this time," said St. Amand one day, peevishly. "Patience, my dear friend; patience, perhaps she may return to-morrow." "To-morrow! let me see, it is only six o'clock, only six, you are sure?" "Just five, dear Eugene shall I read to you? this is a new book from Paris, it has made a great noise," said Julie. "You are very kind, but I will not trouble you." "It is any thing but trouble." "In a word, then, I would rather not." "Oh! that he could see," thought Julie; "would I not punish him for this!" "I hear carriage-wheels; who can be passing this way? Surely it is the voiturier from Bruxelles," said St. Amand, starting up, "it is his day, his hour, too. No, no, it is a lighter vehicle," and he sank down listlessly on his seat. Nearer and nearer rolled the wheels; they turned the corner; they stopped at the lowly door; and--overcome,--overjoyed, Lucille was clasped to the bosom of St. Amand. "Stay," said she, blushing, as she recovered her self-possession, and turned to Le Kain, "pray pardon me, sir. Dear Eugene, I have brought with me one who, by God's blessing, may yet restore you to sight." "We must not be sanguine, my child," said Le Kain; "any thing is better than disappointment." To close this part of my story, dear Gertrude, Le Kain examined St. Amand, and the result of the examination was a confident belief in the probability of a cure. St. Amand gladly consented to the experiment of an operation; it succeeded--the blind man saw! Oh! what were Lucille's feelings, what her emotion, what her joy, when she found the object of her pilgrimage--of her prayers--fulfilled! That joy was so intense, that in the eternal alterations of human life she might have foretold from its excess how bitter the sorrows fated to ensue.