Page:Orange Grove.djvu/292

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passionless and still it was easy to trace the lineaments of a highly wrought organization; too proud to stoop to things low and mean, too sensitive to brook the world's scorn. While desperation had driven her to the vagrant life she led, it was evident that the publicity of being arrested as a criminal was so much of a shock to her nervous system, in addition to the powerful reaction which took place when Walter appeared in her behalf, that her mind lost its balance; the rigor of a prison life having rapidly undermined the health that had previously begun to fail.

At set of sun her spirit passed away. It is impossible to describe the sensations of Rosalind as she gazed on that motionless form, looking even beautiful in death. Now that all feeling of hatred had passed away, a heavenly serenity revealed a loveliness of feature hitherto unobserved amid the tumultuous passions of her earthly life. That one so young, and so innocent, should have been shut out of the social and refining influences of society, whether the result of chance or that lack of sympathy which too often repels those who would otherwise be attracted within its pale, was a source of inexplicable mystery to the wonder-seeking spirit of Rosalind, which still preserved some of the unsatisfied character of her childhood in searching the cause of every thing that happened. This was an instance where blame attached to no one, and it was impossible to arrest the chain of circumstances, beginning with the barking of a dog which had driven this friendless one to seek the companionship of the low-