Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 3).djvu/167

 'Well, Madeline, (said he, seating himself at a distance from me), I trust you have been well and happy since I last saw you.'

"As well and happy (I replied, looking at him with that tenderness which my heart experienced) as I could be without the society which constitutes my chief felicity."

'Ah! Madeline, (cried he) I trust when you mix more in the world, you will be able to enjoy felicity without that society.'

'Could the world (said I) produce any change in my present sentiments, I should wish for ever to be secluded from it.'

"He arose and approached me.

'I came, Madeline, (said he) with a hope of receiving proofs of your good sense instead of your tenderness; do not interrupt me, (continued he, seeing me about to speak) listen attentively to what I am about saying:

'All hopes of an independence are terminated by my uncle, who died some days ago, bequeathing the whole of his property to a religious house; I am therefore entirely at