Among these was the fishing-house; and, to indulge still more the affectionate melancholy of the visit, she took thither her lute, that she might again hear there the tones, to which St.Aubert and her mother had so often delighted to listen.

She went alone, and at that still hour of the evening which is so soothing to fancy and to grief.
The last time she had been here she was in company with Monsieur and Madame St.Aubert, a few days preceding that, on which the latter was seized with a fatal illness.

Now, when Emily again entered the woods, that surrounded the building, they awakened so forcibly the memory of former times, that her resolution yielded for a moment to excess of grief.

She stopped, leaned for support against a tree, and wept for some minutes, before she had recovered herself sufficiently to proceed.

The little path, that led to the building, was overgrown with grass and the flowers which St.Aubert had scattered carelessly along the border were almost choked with weeds--the tall thistle--the fox-glove, and the nettle.