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
Sometimes too a remembrance of the tender interest he had expressed for
her welfare, and of his correspondent look and air, would steal across
her memory, awakening a pleasing emotion and a latent hope that she was
not indifferent to him. From reflections like these she was roused by a
summons to supper:--the repast was a melancholy one, it being the last
evening of Louis's stay at the abbey. Adeline, who esteemed him,
regretted his departure, while his eyes were often bent on her with a
look which seemed to express that he was about to leave the object of
his affection. She endeavoured by her cheerfulness to reanimate the
whole party, and especially Madame La Motte, who frequently shed tears.
We shall soon meet again, said Adeline, I trust in happier
circumstances. La Motte sighed. The countenance of Louis brightened at
her words. Do you wish it? said he with peculiar emphasis. Most
certainly I do, she replied: can you doubt my regard for my best
friends?
I cannot doubt any thing that is good of you, said he.
You forget you have left Paris, said La Motte to his son, while a faint
smile crossed his face; such a compliment would there be in character
with the place--in these solitary woods it is quite _outre_.
The language of admiration is not always that of compliment, Sir, said
Louis. Adeline, willing to change the discourse, asked to what part of
France he was going. He replied that his regiment was now at Peronne,
and he should go immediately thither. After some mention of indifferent
subjects, the family withdrew for the night to their several chambers.
The approaching departure of her son occupied the thoughts of Madame La
Motte, and she appeared at breakfast with eyes swollen with weeping. The
pale countenance of Louis seemed to indicate that he had rested no
better than his mother. When breakfast was over, Adeline retired for a
while, that she might not interrupt by her presence their last
conversation. As she walked on the lawn before the abbey, she returned
in thought to the occurrence of yesterday evening, and her impatience
for the appointed interview increased. She was soon joined by Louis. It
was unkind of you to leave us, said he, in the last moments of my stay.
Could I hope that you would sometimes remember me when I am far away, I
should depart with less sorrow. He then expressed his concern at leaving
her: and though he had hitherto armed himself with resolution to forbear
a direct avowal of an attachment, which must be fruitless, his heart now
yielded to the force of passion, and he told what Adeline every moment
feared to hear.
This declaration, said Adeline, endeavouring to overcome the agitation
it excited, gives me inexpressible concern.
O, say not so! interrupted Louis, but give me some slender hope to
support me in the miseries of absence. Say that you do not hate
me--Say--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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