The Lady of the Ice | Page 2

Fearful, Direful, and
Utterly-crushing Revelation.--Who is the Lady of the Ice?

XXV. Recovery from the last Great Shock.--Geniality of mine
Host.--Off again among Antiquities.--The Fenians.--A Startling
Revelation by one of the Inner Circle.--Politics, Poetry, and
Pathos.--Far-reaching Plans and Deep-seated Purposes.
XXVI. A few Parting Words with O'Halloran.--His touching Parental
Tenderness, High Chivalric Sentiment, and lofty sense of
Honor.--Pistols for Two.--Pleasant and Harmonious
Arrangement.--"Me Boy, Ye're and Honor to Yer Sex!"
XXVII. Sensational!--Terrific!--Tremendous!--I leave the house in
Strange Whirl.--A Storm.--The Driving Sleet.--I Wander About.--The
voices of the Storm, and of the River.--The clangor of the Bells.--The
Shadow in the Doorway.--The Mysterious Companion.--A Terrible
Walk.--Familiar Voices.--Sinking into Senselessness.--The Lady of the
Ice is Revealed At Last amid the Storm!
XXVIII. My Lady of the Ice.--Snow and Sleet.--Reawakening.--A
Desperate Situation.--Saved a Second Time.--Snatched from a Worse
Fate.--Borne in My Arms Once More.--The Open Door.
XXIX. Puzzling Questions which cannot be Answered as yet.--A Step
toward Reconcilation.--Reunion of a Broken Friendship.--Pieces all
Collected and Joined.--Joy of Jack.--Solemn Debates over the Great
Puzzle of the period.--Friendly Conferences and Confidences.--An
Important Communication.
XXX. A Letter!--Strange Hesitation.--Gloomy Forebodings.--Jack
down deep in the Dumps.--Fresh Confessions.--Why he Missed the
Tryst.--Remorse and Revenge.--Jack's Vows of Vengeance.--A very
Singular and Unaccountable Character.--Jack's Gloomy Menaces.
XXXI. A Friendly Call.--Preliminaries of the Duel Neatly
Arranged.--A Damp Journey, and Depressed Spirits.--A Secluded
Spot.--Difficulties which attend a Duel in a Canadian Spring.--A
Masterly Decision. --Debates about the niceties of the Code of
Honor.--Who shall have the First Shot, Struggle for Precedence.--A
very Singular and Obstinate Dispute.--I save O'Halloran from Death by

Rheumatism.
XXXII. Home again.--The Growls of a Confirmed
Growler.--Hospitality.--The well-known Room.--Vision of a
Lady.--Alone with Marion.--Interchange of Thought and
Sentiment.--Two Beautiful Women.--An Evening to be
Remembered.--The Conviviality of O'Halloran.--The Humors of
O'Halloran, and his Bacchic Joy.
XXXIII. From April to June.--Tempora Mutantur, et nos Mutamur in
Illis. --Startling Change in Marion!--And Why?--Jack and his
Woes.--The Vengeance of Miss Phillips.--Ladies who refuse to allow
their Hearts to be Broken.--Noble Attitude of the
Widow.--Consolations of Louie.
XXXIV. Jack's Tribulations.--They Rise Up in the very face of the
Most Astonishing Good Fortunes.--For, what is like a Legacy?--And
this comes to Jack!--Seven Thousand Pounds Sterling per Annum!--But
what's the use of it all?--Jack comes to Grief!--Woe! Sorrow! Despair!
All the Widow! --Infatuation.--A mad proposal.--A Madman, a Lunatic,
an Idiot, a March Hare, and a Hatter, all rolled into one, an that one the
Lucky yet Unfortunate Jack.
XXXV. "Louis!"--Platonic Friendship.--Its results.--Advice may be
given too Freely, and Consolation may be sought for too Eagerly.--Two
Inflammable Hearts should not be allowed to Come Together.--The Old,
Old Story.--A Breakdown, and the results all around.--The Condemned
Criminal.--The slow yet sure approach of the Hour of Execution.
XXXVI. A Friend's Apology for a Friend.--Jack down at the bottom of
Deep Abyss of Woe.--His Despair.--The Hour and the Man!--Where is
the Woman!--A Sacred Spot.--Old Fletcher.--The Toll of the
Bell.--Meditations on each Successive Stroke.--A wild search.--The
Pretty Servant-maid, and her Pretty Story.--Throwing Gold About.
XXXVII. My own affairs.--A Drive and how it came off.--Varying
Moods.--The Excited, the Gloomy, and the Gentlemanly.--Straying
about Montmorency.--Revisiting a memorable Scene.--Effect of said

Scene.--A Mute Appeal and an Appeal in Words.--Result of the
Appeals.--"Will You Turn Away?"--Grand
Result.--Climax.--Finale.--A General Understanding all round, and a
Universal Explanation of Numerous Puzzles.
XXXVIII. Grand Conclusion.--Wedding-rings and Ball-rings.--St.
Malachi's. --Old Fletcher in his glory.--No Humbug this
time.--Messages sent everywhere.--All the town Agog.--Quebec on the
Rampage.--St. Malachi's Crammed.--Galleries Crowded.--White
Favors Everywhere.--The Widow happy with the Chaplain.--The
Double Wedding.--First couple--JACK AND LOUIE! --Second
ditto--MACRORIE AND MARION!--Colonel Berton and O'Halloran
giving away the brides.--Strange Association of the British Officer and
the Fenian.--Jack and Macrorie, Louie and Marion.--Brides and
Bridegrooms.--Epithalamicm.--Wedding in high life.--Six Officiating
Clergymen.--All the elite of Quebec take part.--All the Clergy, all the
Military, and Everybody who amounts to any thing.--The Band of the
Bobtails Discourse Sweet Music, and all that sort of thing, You Know.

THE LADY OF THE ICE.
CHAPTER I.
CONSISTING MERELY OF INTRODUCTORY MATTER.
This is a story of Quebec. Quebec is a wonderful city.
I am given to understand that the ridge on which the city is built is
Laurentian; and the river that flows past it is the same. On this (not the
river, you know) are strata of schist, shale, old red sand-stone, trap,
granite, clay, and mud. The upper stratum is ligneous, and is found to
be very convenient for pavements.
It must not be supposed from this introduction that I am a geologist. I
am not. I am a lieutenant in her Majesty's 129th Bobtails. The Bobtails
are a gay and gallant set, and I have reason to know that we are well

remembered in every place we have been quartered.
Into the vortex of Quebeccian society I threw myself with all the
generous ardor of youth, and was keenly alive to those charms which
the Canadian ladies possess