But the mourner was evidently without suspicion that any one was in sight. Grief is an absorber: it neither seeks nor makes observation; except where it is joined with vanity, that always desires remark; or with guilt, by which remark is always feared. Ellis, neither advancing nor receding, saw her next move solemnly forward, to bend over a small elevation of earth, encircled by short sticks, intersected with rushes. Some of these, which were displaced, she carefully arranged, while uttering, in a gentle murmur, which the profound stillness of all around alone enabled Ellis to catch, 'Repose toi bien, mon ange! mon enfant! le repos qui me fuit, le bonheur que j'ai perdu, la tranquilite precieuse de l'ame qui m'abandonne--que tout cela soit a toi, mon ange! mon enfant! Je ne te rappellerai plus ici! Je ne te rappellerais plus, meme si je le pouvais. Loin de toi ma malheureuse destinee! je priai Dieu pour ta conservation quand je te possedois encore; quelques cruelles que fussent tes souffrances, et toute impuissante que J'etois pour les soulager, je priai Dieu, dans l'angoisse de mon ame, pour ta conservation! Tu n'est plus pour moi--et je cesse de te reclamer. Je te vois une ange! Je te vois exempt a jamais de douleur, de crainte, de pauvrete et de regrets; te reclamerai-je, donc, pour partager encore mes malheurs? Non! ne reviens plus a moi! Que je te retrouve la--ou ta felicite sera la mienne! Mais toi, prie pour ta malheureuse mere! que tes innocentes prieres s'unissent a ses humbles supplications, pour que ta mere, ta pauvre mere, puisse se rendre digne de te rejoindre!'[2] [Footnote 2: 'Sleep on, sleep on, my angel child! May the repose that flies me, the happiness that I have lost, the precious tranquillity of soul that has forsaken me--be thine! for ever thine! my child! my angel! I cease to call thee back. Even were it in my power, I would not call thee back. I prayed for thy preservation, while yet I had the bliss of possessing thee; cruel as were thy sufferings, and impotent as I found myself to relieve them, I prayed,--in the anguish of my soul,--I prayed for thy preservation! Thou art lost to me now!--yet I call thee back no more! I behold thee an angel! I see thee rescued for ever from sorrow, from alarm, from poverty, and from bitter recollections;--and shall I call thee back, to partake again my sufferings?--No! return to me no more! There, only, let me find thee, where thy felicity will be mine!--but thou! O pray for thy unhappy mother! Let thy innocent prayers be united to her humble supplications, that thy mother, thy hapless mother, may become worthy to join thee!']