All will soon be over." Aware that she could be of no further use, Viviana cast a look of the deepest commiseration at the sufferer, and retired.

The occupant of the cottage, an elderly female, had surrendered all the apartments of her tenement, except one small room, to her guests, and she was therefore undisturbed.

The terrible event which had recently occurred, and the harrowing scene she had just witnessed, were too much for Viviana, and her anguish was so intense, that she began to fear her reason was deserting her.

She stood still,--gazed fearfully round, as if some secret danger environed her,--clasped her hands to her temples, and found them burning like hot iron,--and, then, alarmed at her own state, knelt down, prayed, and wept.

Yes! she wept, for the first time, since her father's destruction, and the relief afforded by those scalding tears was inexpressible.
From this piteous state she was aroused by the tramp of horses at the door of the cottage, and the next moment Father Garnet presented himself.
"How uncertain are human affairs!" he said, after a sorrowful greeting had passed between them.