Be it remarked, however, that, amongst all the subjects of conversation which we now enjoyed--and they were as varied as the shapes of summer-clouds--that we never talked of love. We spoke of ancient tales, and bright, unexampled friendship--the arts and graces of Greece--the virtues and the might of Rome. We spoke of modern days--of gallant deeds in the field--of sad and tragic events--of stories of interest and of anecdotes of wit. We spoke of the beauties of nature, and of all the fair varieties of the world's face. We spoke of ourselves, and our interests, and our feelings, and our tastes. We spoke of our many associated memories in the past, and we looked forward to many a hope and pleasure together in the future; but still we never spoke of love. It might be a deep, hidden, eternal, unavowed consciousness, concealed from our own eyes as well as from the rest of the world, that made us avoid--I must call it scrupulously--the most distant approach to that one subject, amongst all the rest of which we spoke. It might be that, by some sort of instinctive perception, we trod lightly, because we found that our feet were upon a volcano. The fire, however, went on within our hearts, though silently. We drank the intoxicating cup to the dregs, without knowing that it was wine. There was none to open our eyes--there was none to warn us; and, like all other persons in the same situation, we woke not from our dream till it was too late. Such might not have been the case, had not the only member of the family who was likely to have given us warning and counsel--to have felt for all our feelings, and foreseen all our danger--had he not been absent during the whole of my stay at the Prés Vallée. I allude to Father Ferdinand, who, only two days before my arrival, had set out for Dumont. He did not return as soon as had been expected, and I more than once proposed to ride over to Dumont, and see him; but there was a fascination at the Prés Vallée which detained me with a power not to be resisted, and I put off my expedition from day to day, till at length an order arrived for Monsieur de Villardin and myself to resume our military duties, and we were obliged to prepare for our departure. The summons came nearly a month sooner than we had expected, and of course caused no small bustle and confusion, especially as Monsieur de Villardin, yielding to the degree of corporeal inactivity, which, as I have before said, was creeping over him, determined to travel to Paris in his carriage, instead of on horseback; and consequently the time consumed on the journey was likely to be much greater than usual.