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for the purpose of enjoying her daughter's company:—"but at length, weary of the dissipation that prevails there (said she), and in which I was sometimes obliged unavoidably to join, I found myself under the necessity of giving up my daughter's society for a time, in order to recruit myself by country air and retirement."

They stopped, in the meridian of the day, at a small house on the borders of an extensive forest through which they were to pass, to procure some refreshment, and rest the horses. The room in which the Countess and Madeline dined looked into the forest; and the cool shade which the trees cast upon the windows, rendered it delightful after the intense heat they had been exposed to whilst travelling. At some distance, proudly rising above the trees, appeared the antique towers of a castle.

"What a gloomy residence must that be, madam," said Madeline pointing to it."