Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Before she had ended the sentence, the infatuation had begun again, and Charles had forgotten that there was any other being on earth but herself; and though he tried, as she desired, to make the conversation general, it always returned by some channel towards the one subject on which his thoughts were bent.

Coffee was served and taken away."And now," said the baroness, looking at him, with a melancholy smile" and now for a history-and a painful one too.

"I was born," she continued, " at Frankfort, and was an only child. Wealth, rank, and affection, with all the pleasures in their gift, smiled upon me in early youth, and promised to continue my hap piness to the last hours of life. But those, Melville, that count upon any worldly advantages for content, are deceived; for the fairest prospects may be darkened in a moment, by wintry clouds, and all the harvest of hope scattered by an unexpect ed storm. Nothing could promise fairer than

M 3

than the future did to me.

From my

earliest youth my hand was destined for my cousin, the baron de S: I was taught to love him, to admire him, to think that all his actions were right, and that mine were to be modelled upon his taste and judgment; and, believe me, I was a willing scholar in all; for in our infancy, and our youth, we had been always companions. He was young, handsome, amiable, and accomplished: he was dotingly fond of me when I was a child, and I fancied that he would love me as a woman. Germans are not in general fond of travelling; but when he was twenty, and I was sixteen, he was sent to France, Italy, and England, to finish his education; and after two years, he returned to receive my hand. But my cousin was no longer the same: the gay, lively boy, had become the grave, melancholy man; and to me, of all others, who loved him almost to folly, he was cold, distant, and reserved; and though he lent himself to the views

of

of our relations, in regard to our marriage, it was as a matter in which he had no con

cern. Oh, Melville! no one can tell-no one can imagine the agony of slighted affection, but those who have felt it as I have, in all its bitterness. Nature could not support it, and I fell into sickness : but as soon as I was recovered, my father commanded me to give my hand to my cousin, and persuaded me that his affection would revive after our marriage. A dispensation had been procured from Rome (for we were within the prescribed degrees of consanguinity), and though much against my will, for my heart revolted against wedding a man who did not love me, I at length yielded.

"The first time the baron saw me after my illness, there was a return for a short time of his former kindness: distress of mind had made great ravages in my appearance. He was struck and affected: he pressed my hand-called me his dear Adelaide, and made my eyes run over M 4 with

[ocr errors]

with tears of surprise and joy. But it was only the momentary effort of compassion, and he soon again relapsed into coldness and ceremony.

"We were married. Melville, I can not enter into all the rest: but he carried his coldness so far, that he completely alienated from himself any remains of affection that yet lingered in my bosom. I became ill in health; and my father, who saw me wretched, attributed the misery of his only child to himself, in pressing me to such a marriage; and giving way to his regret, he died, leaving me without any support under all I suffered. I took my resolution, and as calmly, as coldly, as he could have done, I proposed to the ba ron that we should part, and that I should fix my residence in one country and he in another. When I did so, he put his hands over his eyes, and for a time seemed much affected: then raising himself to his full height Be it so, madam,' he replied: 'will you state what income you desire,

and

and it shall be at your disposal?' Of course I left it to him; and he behaved with that liberality that always characterized him. He shared his fortune equally with me, and I chose France for my future residence.

"But ere I proceed, let me do him justice. Do not suppose that he ever treated me ill; that he ever spoke one unkind word to me. No; he was ever ceremo niously attentive, polite to the extreme. 1 commanded every thing in his house and property; and from every one he exacted for me the utmost observance. But it was love that I had expected, Melvilleit was affection that I required; and instead, he gave me only cold propriety, and chilling reserve.

"The day arrived for our separation. Oh, had he even then shewn the least attachment to me, the least grief for my departure, I would have thrown myself upon his bosom, and never quitted him in life! But when I came down in the morning,

« AnteriorContinuar »