a share of
the presents which she had distributed among the family circle.

Paul, overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune, which
he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days after to
my dwelling. With an air of deep despondency he said to me--"My sister
is going away; she is already making preparations for her voyage. I
conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother and
mine, in order to detain her here." I could not refuse the young man's
solicitations, although well convinced that my representations would be
unavailing.

Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse
cloth of Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head: you
may therefore imagine how much her beauty was increased, when she was
attired in the graceful and elegant costume worn by the ladies of this
country! She had on a white muslin dress, lined with pink taffeta.
Her somewhat tall and slender figure was shown to advantage in her new
attire, and the simple arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with
the form of her head. Her fine blue eyes were filled with an expression
of melancholy; and the struggles of passion, with which her heart was
agitated, imparted a flush to her cheek, and to her voice a tone of deep
emotion. The contrast between her pensive look and her gay habiliments
rendered her more interesting than ever, nor was it possible to see or
hear her unmoved. Paul became more and more melancholy; and at length
Margaret, distressed at the situation of her son, took him aside and
said to him,--"Why, my dear child, will you cherish vain hopes, which
will only render your disappointment more bitter? It is time for me to
make known to you the secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de
la Tour belongs, by her mother's side, to a rich and noble family, while
you are but the son of a poor peasant girl; and what is worse you are
illegitimate."

Paul, who had never heard this last expression before, inquired with
eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, "I was not married to your
father. When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness
of which you are the offspring. The consequence of my fault is, that you
are deprived of the protection of a father's family, and by my flight
from home you have also lost that of your mother's. Unfortunate child!
you have no relations in the world but me!"--and she shed a flood of
tears. Paul, pressing her in his arm