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 arrives; some unexpected incident may bring all things to light. You see she will not be without a support, which I shall regularly pay. As for your son Charles, I take upon me the care of his fortune, and will send him to a school at my own expense; the moiety of his mother's settlement shall be paid to Ernest, and be left to accumulate for his expenses hereafter.

"This has been a melancholy visit to you, my dear Ferdinand; but I entreat you to endeavour, if possible, to overcome this shock, to think of Claudina as dead, and as one whom you ought not, from her own confession, to lament."

With a deep sigh Ferdinand replied, "I will endeavour; but the more I think, the more the mystery increases, and the more wretched I am. I thank you for my poor Charles; the little Claudina, I trust, her mother will not neglect. Within three days I shall leave you."

"How! (cried the Count) in three days? Surely my brother will not desert me: Let