Page:Duty and Inclination 1.pdf/228

220 each day's actions. And many were those that revolved over their heads affording but the variety of good Mr. and Mrs. Philimore's visits to chequer them.

Sometimes, for the benefit of air and exercise, they walked in the court overlooked by their window; sometimes De Brooke, to vary and amuse the interval whilst his wife was employed at her needle, read to her, till obliged to desist, interrupted by the noisy mirth of their little ones. "Happy children!" exclaimed he; "with hearts elastic ye bound to the touch of joy in every shape, unmindful of your parents' sighs as they reflect upon your future destiny!"

After a due lapse of time, De Brooke became acquainted with several who, like himself, were unhappily doomed to bear the yoke of imprisonment. Count de Bellemare was one of those French noblemen, who, obliged to fly his country, and exiled thence, his person was held in detention within the walls of the Bench; but light, thoughtless and volatile, he seemed not to regard his misfortune as one requiring much depth of philosophy for its endurance. He was one of those who sometimes called to pass away an hour or two in the apartment of Colonel De Brooke. His person was handsome, his manners were