Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 1).djvu/21



CHAP. II.

was in a fine autumnal evening that Clermont, seized with one of his usual fits of melancholy, abruptly withdrew from the cottage, and left Madeline to amuse herself as fancy might direct. Habit had failed of its usual effect upon her mind; for, on every return of her father's dejection, she felt as much distressed as if she had never before witnessed it. To endeavour to alleviate this distress, she now walked out and pursued her course along the margin of the river till she reached the old castle, o'er which the last beams of