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312 dering, and even whose presence, for a short time, made her really ill for several days afterwards.

“On this occasion, when the hour approached she wished that I should go without her, when my father, suspecting what would happen, came into our room, and insisted that she should alter her intentions. ‘One cannot renounce the world altogether,’ said he, ‘and there are some invitations, which it is our indispensable duty to accept.’ In fine, he gave an absolute command that Seraphina should dress as quickly as possible, and go with me. I had just before sent away my waiting-maid, so that my sister herself took the light, and went up stairs for her ball dress, which hung in a narrow closet, or rather press, adjoining a large room on the floor above.

“She staid a longer time than could have been required for an errand of this kind, and when she at last returned, her whole appearance was so much changed, that I could not help uttering a scream of terror. My father, too, exclaimed in a tone of anxiety and compassion—‘Child—child! What, in all the world, has happened to you?’ She had not been absent above a quarter of an hour, yet the expression of