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314 my disquietude was so great, that I could not wait for it, and at last determined, on walking home, attended by a friend’s servant, who could scarcely keep pace with me, for, indeed, I ran all the way.

“Arrived at home, however, my impatience to be with her again was not immediately gratified, for I found her apartment deserted. ‘Where is she?’ I demanded with vehemence. ‘Mademoiselle Seraphina,’ said the lacquey, ‘is in his Excellency’s cabinet.’—‘Alone, then?’—‘No—she is with his Excellency.’—I hastened to the study, and found the door locked against me; however, when they heard my voice, it was opened immediately, and they both came to meet me. Seraphina was in tears, and my father was agitated to a degree which I should have thought impossible in a state minister of his talents and experience. She at once understood my anxious looks, and took my arm, that we might retire together, but, before going, she was obliged to tranquillize my father, by an assurance that she would remember her promise, of which I knew not then the cause or purport. For some time after we had come into our own room, Seraphina seem-