From the hour
this catastrophe became certain, Lyon was no more seen. He was fully
prepared for the emergency."
In confirmation of this, letters giving the minutest particulars
were shown, thus corroborating the worst, and extinguishing the
feeblest rays of hope.
All was too true. The brilliant bubble had indeed burst, and not the
shadow of a substance remained. When satisfied of this beyond all
doubt, Markland, on whose mind suffering had produced a temporary
stupor, sought his room at the hotel, and remained there for several
days, so hopeless, weak, and undecided, that he seemed almost on the
verge of mental imbecility. How could he return home and communicate
the dreadful intelligence to his family? How could he say to them,
that, for his transgressions, they must go forth from their
beautiful Eden?
"No--no!" he exclaimed, wringing his hands in anguish. "I can never
tell them this! I can never look into their faces! Never! never!"
The moment had come, and the tempter was at his ear. There was,
first, the remote suggestion of self-banishment in some distant
land, where the rebuking presence of his injured family could never
haunt him.
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