Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 4).djvu/227

 his beloved Countess; Mr. D'Alenberg, with his daughter and Louisa, to their own house; and the Count returning with Ferdinand, his affairs requiring his presence at Castle Renaud.

He found it extremely difficult to tear himself from his charming Theresa, but she pleaded delicacy and decorum. The recent death of his wife and brother, though separated from the one, and ill-treated by the other, had some claims to observance.

"I am far," said she, "from being a slave to forms, but the good opinion of the world is always worth preserving, and the sacrifice of one's inclinations for a short time, will be much less painful, than a consciousness of having forfeited that opinion by an appearance of indecorum; therefore, until our friends join us, you must not be offended if you are excluded from being an inmate of our house."

Ferdinand turned to Louisa, "Hasten the journey of your sweet Countess, my dear friend; the Baron will feel the attraction, and