"At half an hour before noon, I was again in the oasis;
your mother was at the wonted spot; and although she
received me with her sunniest smiles, there were traces
of tears upon her cheek. I kissed them eagerly away, and
sought to dissipate the partial gloom that was again
clouding her brow. She observed it pained me to see her
thus, and she made a greater effort to rally. She implored
me to forgive her weakness; but it was the first time
she was to be separated from her parent; and conscious
as she was that it was to be for ever, she could not
repress the feeling that rose, despite of herself, to
her heart. She had, however, prepared a letter, at my
suggestion, to be left on her favourite moss seat, where
it was likely she would first be sought by her father,
to assure him of her safety, and of her prospects of
future happiness; and the consciousness that he would
labour under no harrowing uncertainty in regard to her
fate, seemed, at length, to soothe and satisfy her heart.
"I now led her to the aperture, where I had left the
apparatus provided for my purpose: this consisted of a
close netting, about four feet in depth, with a board
for a footstool at the bottom, and furnished at intervals
with hoops, so as to keep it full and open.
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