The Romance of the Forest, interspersed with some pieces of poetry. — John Shaqi
The Romance of the Forest, interspersed with some pieces of poetry.Radcliffe, Ann Ward
General
The Romance of the Forest, interspersed with some pieces of poetry.
Radcliffe, Ann Ward
Gothic fiction
The sweetness of her manners so much attracted Madame La Motte, that she
watched the crisis of her disorder with a solicitude which precluded
every other interest. Adeline passed a very disturbed night, and, when
the physician appeared in the morning, he gave orders that she should be
indulged with whatever she liked, and answered the inquiries of La Motte
with a frankness that left him nothing to hope.
In the mean time, his patient, after drinking profusely of some mild
liquids, fell asleep, in which she continued for several hours, and so
profound was her repose, that her breath alone gave sign of existence.
She awoke free from fever, and with no other disorder than weakness,
which in a few days she overcame so well as to be able to set out with
La Motte for B----, a village out of the great road, which he thought it
prudent to quit. There they passed the following night, and early the
next morning commenced their journey upon a wild and woody tract of
country. They stopped about noon at a solitary village, where they took
refreshments, and obtained directions for passing the vast forest of
Fontanville, upon the borders of which they now were. La Motte wished at
first to take a guide, but he apprehended more evil from the discovery
he might make of his route, than he hoped for benefit from assistance in
the wilds of this uncultivated tract.
La Motte now designed to pass on to Lyons, where he could either seek
concealment in its neighbourhood, or embark on the Rhone for Geneva,
should the emergency of his circumstances hereafter require him to leave
France. It was about twelve o'clock at noon, and he was desirous to
hasten forward, that he might pass the forest of Fontanville, and reach
the town on its opposite borders, before night-fall. Having deposited a
fresh stock of provisions in the carriage, and received such directions
as were necessary concerning the roads, they again set forward, and in a
short time entered upon the forest. It was now the latter end of April,
and the weather was remarkably temperate and fine. The balmy freshness
of the air, which breathed the first pure essence of vegetation; and the
gentle warmth of the sun, whose beams vivified every hue of nature, and
opened every floweret of spring, revived Adeline and inspired her with
life and health. As she inhaled the breeze, her strength seemed to
return, and as her eyes wandered through the romantic glades that opened
into the forest, her heart was gladdened with complacent delight: but
when from these objects she turned her regard upon Monsieur and Madame
La Motte, to whose tender attentions she owed her life, and in whose
looks she now read esteem and kindness, her bosom glowed with sweet
affections, and she experienced a force of gratitude which might be
called sublime.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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