Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 1).djvu/136

 so shocked Madeline, that, unable to bear the idea of being thought anxious for a tete-a-tete with de Sevignie, she rose abruptly and walked towards an avenue crowded with company; de Sevignie followed.—"Do you fly me then? (said he) after so long a separation, so unexpected a meeting, do you refuse me a few minutes conversation? ah, Madeline, you once permitted me to call myself your friend,—a permission which, I fear, you have now forgotten. You once promised to remember me;—a promise which, like too many in the world, was made I fear without thought, and forgotten without remorse!"

Those were reproaches poor Madeline did not merit; and the soft melancholy and confusion of her looks too plainly told him so; he caught her hand, and attempted to lead her back to the seat she had just quitted.

"I cannot go (said Madeline, struggling to disengage her hand); your compa-