pleasure, that amid its scenes alone I had found enjoyment, and that my senses had been most attracted and enchained by the sounds of merriment and joy.
I admitted too, that I had ever preferred the society of such as added to my pleasure and amusement by their wit and gaity, to those of a more serious and sedate temperament. But now, in order to become happy, I must seek out the afflicted, and to dry up the tears of the unhappy was to be my only pleasure, to console and assist the dejected—my only happiness. Those alone accustomed to the severe restrictions of a monastic life, could impose such laws and duties upon youth—upon a man anxious still to enjoy the world and its many pleasures. I rose from my seat on the wall, still undecided within myself whether or not to listen to the exhortations of the morose hermit, or to follow my own more congenial and inviting inclinations, intending to pass through the flowery graves around the church, and then to return home.
Behind the church I beheld a small chapel, which I found open, and but feebly illumined by a lamp. I stepped forward through the porch, but I must confess I was seized with a certain feeling of terror, which prevented me from advancing farther; there appeared to reign a silence so mysterious and gloomy in the house of prayer, and there proceeded from within such a cold, shuddering atmosphere, as if issuing from the grave, that my farther entrance was completely stopped. I was on the point of retiring, when I observed by the dim light of the lamp a female figure kneeling at the foot of the altar, piously engaged in prayer: she appeared interrupted by my entrance, and, accordingly, finishing her devotions, she slowly arose, bowed before the altar, and devoutly crossing herself, passed by me in silence. The darkness hindered my distinguishing her features, but by her gait and deportment I could easily perceive that she was young. I followed her at a distance till she stopped and remained standing at a grave bestrewed with flowers, where she dropped slowly upon her knees and prayed; she then arose and sprinkled the flowers
