How often I have looked back to them with hope and fear--yet never till this moment could I prevail with myself to regret their enchanting influence.' His voice faltered, and he abruptly quitted his seat and walked on the terrace.

There was an expression of despair on his countenance, that affected Emily.

The pleadings of her heart overcame, in some degree, her extreme timidity, and, when he resumed his seat, she said, in an accent that betrayed her tenderness, 'You do both yourself and me injustice when you say I think you unworthy of my esteem; I will acknowledge that you have long possessed it, and--and--' Valancourt waited impatiently for the conclusion of the sentence, but the words died on her lips.

Her eyes, however, reflected all the emotions of her heart.

Valancourt passed, in an instant, from the impatience of despair, to that of joy and tenderness.