Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 2).djvu/12

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overwhelmed with confusion at the idea of them, she endeavoured, as soon as she could move, to disengage herself from his arms, in order to return home.


"Against your inclination I will not detain you, (said he) and yet (contradicting his words by still holding her to his breast) to part with you so soon, at such a moment as this, is almost more than I can bear; oh Madeline! to affect ignorance of what you said in the grotto, would be to betray insensibility; I have heard you (he continued, with a voice of rapture) I have heard you in accents which pity might acknowledge her's, pronounce my name. Think then, Madeline, and excuse my doing so, whether at a moment which has given me the sweet assurance of being sometimes thought of, sometimes pitied by you, I can without the utmost reluctance let you depart immediately."

"You have heard me, de Sevignie (cried Madeline, trying to speak in a collected