Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 2).djvu/101

This page needs to be proofread.

go and write to Madame D'Alembert to come directly to the chateau.

"Poor lady! (cried Madeline, with a sigh) how dreadfully shocked and affected she will be to hear of the injury her mother has received!"

"I do not mean to inform her of it," replied he.

"But when she comes to the chateau, she cannot be kept in ignorance of it," cried Madeline.

"Such precautions (said the Father) will be used, that even then she will not know it. The sight of her amiable and beloved child will, I trust, have a happy effect upon the estimable mother."

The surgeon now made his appearance; the faltering accents of Madeline were unequal to the enquiry her heart dictated; but Father Bertrand, more composed, soon learned, that the Countess's wound was not dangerous. "My principal fears, (said the surgeon) arise from the fever with which she is threatened, in consequence of the agita-