s, exclaimed, "Oh, my dear mother!
since I have no relation in the world but you, I will love you all the
more. But what a secret have you just disclosed to me! I now see the
reason why Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself so much from me
for the last two months, and why she has determined to go to France. Ah!
I perceive too well that she despises me!"

The hour of supper being arrived, we gathered round the table; but
the different sensations with which we were agitated left us little
inclination to eat, and the meal, if such it may be called, passed
in silence. Virginia was the first to rise; she went out, and seated
herself on the very spot where we now are. Paul hastened after her,
and sat down by her side. Both of them, for some time, kept a profound
silence. It was one of those delicious nights which are so common
between the tropics, and to the beauty of which no pencil can do
justice. The moon appeared in the midst of the firmament, surrounded
by a curtain of clouds, which was gradually unfolded by her beams. Her
light insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island, and
their distant peaks glistened with a silvery green. The winds were
perfectly still. We heard among the woods, at the bottom of the valleys,
and on the summits of the rocks, the piping cries and the soft notes of
the birds, wantoning in their nests, and rejoicing in the brightness
of the night and the serenity of the atmosphere. The hum of insects was
heard in the grass. The stars sparkled in the heavens, and their lurid
orbs were reflected, in trembling sparkles, from the tranquil bosom of
the ocean. Virginia's eye wandered distractedly over its vast and gloomy
horizon, distinguishable from the shore of the island only by the red
fires in the fishing boats. She perceived at the entrance of the harbour
a light and a shadow; these were the watchlight and the hull of the
vessel in which she was to embark for Europe, and which, all ready for
sea, lay at anchor, waiting for a breeze. Affected at this sight, she
turned away her head, in order to hide her tears from Paul.

Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and I, were seated at a little distance,
beneath the plantain-trees; and, owing to the stillness of the night, we
distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.

Paul said to her,--"You are going away from us, they tell me, in three
days. You do not fear then to encounter the danger of the sea, at the
sight of which