Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 2).djvu/8



The grotto behind her was now involved in utter darkness, and the lake, which lay before her, tinctured with the gloom of closing day, appeared black and dismal; except where it reflected one of the beautifully chequered clouds of evening, or the scattered stars that alternately glittered and disappeared: as if unwilling to disturb the silence of the hour, it stole with gentle undulations to its green banks; and no sounds, but those of its soft murmurs, the melancholy rippling of the water within the grotto, and now and then a hoarse scream from a wild-fowl on the lake, could be distinguished.

The thoughts of Madeline were therefore not interrupted; and fancy again represented de Sevignie rambling about the gloomy heights, whose outlines she could just discover: She shuddered at the idea of