Page:The Monk, A Romance - Lewis (1796, 1st ed., Volume 1).djvu/105

 nor attempt to recover their wandering daughter?"

"Ere they could find her, she discovered herself. Her love grew too violent for concealment; yet she wished not for Julian's person, she ambitioned but a share of his heart. In an unguarded moment she confessed her affection. What was the return? Doting upon his wife, and believing that a look of pity bestowed upon another was a theft from what he owed to her, he drove Matilda from his presence: he forbad her ever again appearing before him. His severity broke her heart: she returned to her father's, and in a few months after was carried to her grave."

"Unhappy girl! Surely her fate was too severe, and Julian was too cruel."

"Do you think so, father?" cried the novice with vivacity: "Do you think that he was cruel?"

"Doubtless I do, and pity her most sincerely."