'O Emily!' he exclaimed, 'my own Emily--teach me to sustain this moment! Let me seal it as the most sacred of my life!' He pressed her hand to his lips, it was cold and trembling; and, raising her eyes, he saw the paleness of her countenance.

Tears came to her relief, and Valancourt watched in anxious silence over her.

In a few moments, she recovered herself, and smiling faintly through her tears, said, 'Can you excuse this weakness?
My spirits have not yet, I believe, recovered from the shock they lately received.' 'I cannot excuse myself,' said Valancourt, 'but I will forbear to renew the subject, which may have contributed to agitate them, now that I can leave you with the sweet certainty of possessing your esteem.' Then, forgetting his resolution, he again spoke of himself.

'You know not,' said he, 'the many anxious hours I have passed near you lately, when you believed me, if indeed you honoured me with a thought, far away.

I have wandered, near the chateau, in the still hours of the night, when no eye could observe me.