Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 3).djvu/245

 "She told me, (cried Madeline) and her lips knew not falsehood, that the calamities of his life were unprecedented; that its characters were marked by horror, and stained with blood;—but in the view he gave me of it, no such calamities, no such characters met my eye; 'tis therefore too evident, that much of it remained concealed.—Oh! may that concealment now continue, (she proceeded); Oh! may no hand more daring than mine withdraw the veil I have been so cautiously against raising; may no untoward circumstance reveal a mystery, whose elucidation I have now a presentiment would fill me with horror!"

She suddenly paused, for at this instant she thought she heard a groan from the adjoining chamber; which, it may be remembered, has already been mentioned as once belonging to Lord Philippe.

Her heart beat quick, and she turned her eyes towards the partition, as if they could