society, and shall continue to do so, while I have health or spirits to enjoy it."
In this manner they continued to converse, till supper was announced in another room. Hitherto a stranger to any thing like luxury or splendour, Madeline was astonished on entering it at the elegance and grandeur exhibited to her view; for the Countess, though of the most domestic turn, still kept up that state her high rank and fortune entitled her to. She gazed alternately at the table, the attendants, and the massy plate which covered the side-board; and began to fear she should make but an awkward figure in a situation so very different from her former one.
Fatigued by her journey, the Countess soon after supper proposed retiring to rest; a proposal extremely agreeable to Madeline, whose spirits still felt agitated. The Countess conducted her to her chamber, which was near her own, and at the end of a long
