al envy
and partial imitation of the neighbourhood. Thus had she consented to
involve her niece in an engagement, to which she saw only a distant and
uncertain conclusion, with as little consideration of her happiness,
as when she had so precipitately forbade it: for though she herself
possessed the means of rendering this union not only certain, but
prudent, yet to do so was no part of her present intention.

From this period Valancourt made frequent visits to Madame Cheron, and
Emily passed in his society the happiest hours she had known since the
death of her father. They were both too much engaged by the present
moments to give serious consideration to the future. They loved and were
beloved, and saw not, that the very attachment, which formed the delight
of their present days, might possibly occasion the sufferings of years.
Meanwhile, Madame Cheron's intercourse with Madame Clairval became
more frequent than before, and her vanity was already gratified by
the opportunity of proclaiming, wherever she went, the attachment that
subsisted between their nephew and niece.

Montoni was now also become a daily guest at the chateau, and Emily
was compelled to observe, that he really was a suitor, and a favoured
suitor, to her aunt.

Thus passed the winter months, not only in peace, but in happiness,
to Valancourt and Emily; the station of his regiment being so near
Tholouse, as to allow this frequent intercourse. The pavilion on the
terrace was the favourite scene of their interviews, and there Emily,
with Madame Cheron, would work, while Valancourt read aloud works of
genius and taste, listened to her enthusiasm, expressed his own, and
caught new opportunities of observing, that their minds were formed to
constitute the happiness of each other, the same taste, the same noble
and benevolent sentiments animating each.

CHAPTER XIII

As when a shepherd of the Hebrid-Isles,
Placed far amid the melancholy main,
(Whether it be lone fancy him beguiles,
Or that aerial beings sometimes deign
To stand embodied to our senses plain)
Sees on the naked hill, or valley low,
The whilst in ocean Phoebus dips his wain,
A vast assembly moving to and fro,
Then all at once in air dissolves the wondrous show.
CASTLE OF INDOLENCE

Madame Cheron's avarice at length yielded to her vanity. Some very
splendid entertainments, which Madame Clairval had given, and the
general adulation, which was paid her, made t