Madeline looked earnestly at her father.
"He had learned (resumed Clermont), from the good dame of the cottage that I was not a surgeon, but merely attended him from good will; in consequence of which he would have loaded me with thanks, had I not stopped him by declaring, that if he persisted in talking of obligations, I would instantly bid him a final adieu.
"After I had silenced him on that subject, he proceeded to tell me his name was de Sevignie, and that a love of rambling, inspired by a wish of seeing all in nature and art worthy of observation in his native country, had led him to a little hamlet about a league from our valley, where enquiring, as was his custom whenever he halted, if there was any place in the neighbourhood worth visiting, he had been directed by his host to the old castle, as one of the finest monuments of art and antiquity in this part of the country. 'I visited it almost immediately, (said he); and from that time, which was
