Page:The Monk, A Romance - Lewis (1796, 1st ed., Volume 1).djvu/128

 ceding night he had made this embarrassing discovery: he doubted not that Matilda would seek him there. He was not deceived: she soon entered the hermitage, and approached the monk with a timid air. After a few minutes, during which both were silent, she appeared as if on the point of speaking; but the abbot, who during this time had been summoning up all his resolution, hastily interrupted her. Though still unconscious how extensive was its influence, he dreaded the melodious seduction of her voice.

"Seat yourself by my side, Matilda," said he, assuming a look of firmness, though carefully avoiding the least mixture of severity; "listen to me patiently, and believe that, in what I shall say, I am not more influenced by my own interest than by yours; believe that I feel for you the warmest friendship, the truest compassion; and that you cannot feel more grieved than I do, when I declare to you that we must never meet again."

"Ambrosio!" she cried, in a voice at