Need I paint that passion I have given you such proofs of?--No; all descriptions would fall short of my feelings. I will ever yield to every wish your soul can form; you are entirely absolute, unless you should attempt impossibilities, amongst which I reckon this as the greatest--for me to breathe a moment without being entirely and inviolably yours. DE VILLEROY. It may here be, perhaps, proper to inform the reader of what perhaps his own sagacity may have made him anticipate--The Duke de Salis had neither been able, by intreaties or threats, to compel the Countess de Sons to marry him, though he had given out that she had; this induced him to keep both her and his daughter closely confined. It has been already related, how he had consigned over his son as a house-breaker;--when he found him condemned to the gallies--like the cruel inconsistency of an _Admiral's[40] judges_--he laid himself under the necessity of declaiming the equity of his own sentence--and when he found the decree against his son was inevitable--unable to bear the reproaches of his inward monitor, and listening to the whispers of a gloomy disposition, he became almost frantic--In this situation of mind, torn with the agonies of grief, he became more careless of his ward--and the Countess and Julia escaped from him--After his conduct to his son--they trembled lest in some act of despair he should on some future occasion equal the past scene, which _chilled them with horror_--The Countess was seized with the small-pox, which altered her features considerably, without impairing her beauty; this circumstance facilitated their eluding all search after them from the Duke, as Julia wore men's clothes; and they supported themselves by the sale of jewels. The intelligent reader now perceives, that Mademoiselle Querci and her brother, were no other than the Countess de Sons and Julia, whom Lord Munster had met at Venice. When the Duke de Salis retired to La-Trappe, the Countess de Sons appeared, and took possession of her fortune. She had remained constantly and sincerely attached to Lord Munster was flattered by his attentions at Venice, and found her esteem increased by the regard he paid to his pre engagements; but would not at that time discover herself, fearing that she only flattered herself that he saw her with the eyes of affection, and lest the small-pox had made _such_ an alteration, as might change his sentiments. Upon the Marquis de Villeroy's arrival in Italy, she was highly charmed to receive a letter from Lord Munster addressed to Mademoiselle de Querci, and determined to accompany him and Julia to England; but this was carefully concealed, to render the discovery more pleasing. In the mean time, the family at Munster-house passed their time most agreeably, though Lord Munster, Sir Harry Bingley, and Mrs Lee, (who knew nothing of Mr Villars) often were melancholy and _distrait_.