Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 4).djvu/139

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"To hide from you an anguish which I could not at times suppress, have I frequently wandered away to the wildest and most forlorn spots in our neighbourhood. No weather, no circumstance, could at these periods prevent those rambles; the dews of summer, the rains of winter, the closing hour of day, the midnight one of darkness were alike disregarded by me. Oh! how often have I stretched myself upon the damp earth, whilst the bleak winds of winter have whistled round me, to deprecate the wrath of Philippe's angry spirit: 'I plead not on my own account (I have cried), Oh! my brother, 'tis for the sake of my child I plead; in pity to her let not the thunders of vengeance burst upon my head! in pity to her, let me sink without infamy to my grave, that, as she bends over it, she may sooth the sorrows of her heart by saying, My father was virtuous, and his memory shall live for ever.'

"When I told you I would at some period or other elucidate the mysteries of my life, I said so but for the purpose of allay-