plied with, and of this kind was the vifit he paid to his brother-in-law M. Quefnel. An affair of an interefting nature made it neceffary that he fhould delay this vifit no longer, and, wifhing to roufe Emily from her dejection, he took her with him to Epourville.

As the carriage entered upon the forest that adjoined his paternal domain, his eyes once more caught, between the chefnut avenue, the turreted corners of the chateau. He fighed to think of what had paffed fince he was last there, and that it was now the property of a man who neither revered nor valued it. At length he entered the avenue, whofe lofty trees had fo often delighted him when a boy, and whofe melancholy fhade was now fo congenial with the tone of his fpirits. Every feature of the edifice, diftinguished by an air of heavy grandeur, appeared fucceffively between the branches of the trees-the broad turret, the arched gate way that led into the courts, the draw-bridge, and the dry foffe which furrounded the whole.

The found of carriage wheels brought a troop of fervants to the great gate, where St. Aubert alighted, and from which he led Emily into the gothic hall, now no longer hung with the arms and ancient banners of the family. These were displaced, and the oak wainscoting, and beams that croffed the roof, were painted white. The large table, too, that used to stretch along the upper end of the hall, where the master of the manfion loved to difplay his hofpitality, and whence the peal of laughter, and the feng of conviviality, had fo often refounded, was now removed; even the benches that had furrounded the hall were no longer there. The heavy walls were hung with frivolous ornaments, and every thing that appeared denoted the falfe taste and corrupted fentiments of the present owner.

St. Aubert followed a gay Parifian fervant to a parlour, where fat Monf. and Madame Quefnel, who received him with a ftately politeness, and, after a few formal words of condolement, feemed to have forgotten that they ever had a fifter.

Emily felt tears fwell in her eyes, and then refentment checked them. St. Aubert, calm and deliberate, preferved his dignity without affuming importance, and Quefnel was depreffed by his prefence without exactly knowing wherefore.

After fome general conversation, St. Aubert requested to speak with him alone; and Emily, being left with Madame Quefnel, foon learned that a large party was invited to dine at the chateau, and was compelled to hear that nothing which was past and irremediable ought to prevent the feftivity of the present hour.

St. Aubert, when he was told that company were expected, felt a mixed emotion of difguft and indignation against the infenfibility of Quefnel, which prompted him to return home immediately. But he was informed, that Madame Cheron had been asked to meet him; and, when he looked at Emily, and confidered that a time might come when the enmity of her uncle would be prejudicial to her, he determined not to

incur it himself, by conduct which would be resented as indecorous, by the very persons who now fhewed fo little fenfe of decorum.

Among the vifitors affembled at dinner were two Italian gentlemen, of whom one was named Montoni, a distant relation of Madame Quefnel, a man about forty, of an uncommonly handfome perfon, with features manly and expreffive, but whofe countenance exhibited, upon the whole, more of the haughtiness of command, and the quickness of difcernment, than of any other

character.

Signor Cavigni, his friend, appeared to be about thirty-his inferior in dignity, but equal to him in penetration of countenance, and fuperior in infinuation of manner.

Emily was fhocked by the falutation with which Madame Cheron met her father"Dear brother," faid fhe, " I am concerned to see you look fo very ill; do, pray, have advice!" St. Aubert answered, with a melancholy fmile, that he felt himself much as ufual; but Emily's fears made her now fancy

that

that her father looked worfe than he really did.

Emily would have been amufed by the new characters fhe faw, and the varied conversation that paffed during dinner, which was ferved in a ftyle of fplendour she had feldom feen before, had her fpirits been lefs oppreffed. Of the guests, Signor Montoni was lately come from Italy, and he fpoke of the commotions which at that period agitated the country; talked of party differences with warmth, and then lamented the probable confequences of the tumults. His friend fpoke with equal ardour, of the politics of his country; praised the government and profperity of Venice, and boasted of its decided superiority over all the other Italian ftates. He then turned to the ladies, and talked with the fame eloquence, of Parifian fashions, the French opera, and French manners; and on the latter fubject he did not fail to mingle what is fo particularly agreeable to French tafte. The flattery was not detected by

thofe