“‘LILIAN.’ * * * * * “Imagine my surprise; for I was in a strange city, where none knew me. I am not ashamed to confess, that tears, foreign to my nature, came unbidden to my eyes, and the prayer arose to my lips—‘Teach me the truth, Oh! God.’ That prayer, dear friends, has been answered. Since that time I have been happy; for I now look at this life in the light of the other.” “’Tis a beautiful faith,” said Evelyn, “that our loved ones are still about our path—our guardian angels, perhaps.” “It is a faith I would not lose,” said D’Arcy, “for worlds of untold wealth.” He drew from his neck a delicate hair chain, with a locket attached. Touching a spring, we perceived the miniature of a beautiful young girl. “That portrait,” said D’Arcy, “was painted by a spirit medium, after my Lilian had passed away—it is her very self—but spiritualized.” “How exquisitely lovely!” I exclaimed. “Heavens! how like Ella!” cried Evelyn. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIX. +LEAVES FROM A LADY’S DIARY+ _March 13th._—I have, of late, greatly neglected my journal, not from want of time, neither for lack of incident nor material for thought and feeling—rather the reverse. Since my last musical reception, I have not penned one line. Oh! that night is a kind of era in my life. I then made the acquaintance of a remarkable man—perhaps _the_ most uncommon person I ever met. It is not only that he is very, very handsome, nor highly intellectual, nor most refined in manners—it is that, over and above all these qualifications, he possesses, in a wonderful degree, the power of attraction—magnetism, if you will—the _je ne sais quoi_ of the French. You forget self in his presence, and think of him only. I cannot analyze my feelings. I only know, that, as the soft and musical tones of that voice fell on my ear, as I felt the magic of that glance in my inmost soul, the words uttered by Lady Caroline Lamb, when first she beheld Byron, came unbidden to my memory, and seemed to me as a foreboding of sorrow— “That pale face is my fate!” I murmured, as a vague terror crept over me.