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22 gratitude? said the Countess. How can we requite a benefaction that restores us to life? They set out immediately on their journey, and arrived with the greatest expedition. They left their equipage at some distance, and walked to the hut through the valley that contained all that was dear to them. Adelaide was tending the flock, as usual. The old dame conducted them to the place where she was. How great was their surprise, wheuwhen [sic] they beheld their beloved son with the shepherdess, under the habit of a simple pastor! Their hearts discovered him more than their eyes. Ah! cruel child, cried Fonrose’s mother, throwing her arms about his neck, what trouble you have given us. What could induce you to leave your affectionate parents? What is your business here? To adore what you yourself so much admired, said Fonrose. Madam, said Adelaide, whilst Fonrose embraced his father’s knees, you would not so long have been a prey to grief, had I discovered sooner your dear son. After the first effusions of nature were over, Fonrose relapsed into his former melancholy. Come, said the Countess, let us go and repose ourselves in the cabin, and forget the woes this young madman has plunged us in. It is very true, said Fonrose, to his father, who led him by the hand; what else but the deprivation of my reason could suspend the emotions of nature, and make me forget the most sacred duties? What but madness? You innocently gave rise to it, and I am sincerely punished, for I am in love with the most amiable and accomplished person in the world. You have seen but little of her; you know but little of this incomparable lady. Honour, virtue, and sensibility! she unites all that is great and good. I dote upon her to idolatry. I cannot be happy without her, and she never can be mine. Has she trusted you, said the Count, with the secret of her birth? I have learnodlearned [sic] enough, replied Fonrose, to assure you it is not inferior to mine. She has renounced a considerable fortune in the world, to remain in this solitude. Do you know what motive has induced her to it? I do; but it is a secret which