Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 1).djvu/98

This page needs to be proofread.

mation which threw me into passions so injurious to you, and unbecoming in myself."—She drew the letter from her pocket; Caroline rejected it: "No, Madam, I am perfectly satisfied; if you believe yourself imposed upon, if you are convinced that I am incapable of being the wretched creature you supposed me to be; I am restored to your good opinion, and justified in the sight of others; self-approbation, thank Heaven, I have never forfeited."

The Countess withdrew soon after, the scene was disagreeable to her on many accounts; she had injured Caroline, and therefore could not love her, and it likewise gave her a conscious superiority which the Countess could not admit of in any other than herself. The Count was in a situation most deplorable, his love for Caroline exceeded all bounds, yet respecting her with equal fervor, he determined to confine his passion within his own bosom, and never to see her more after she had quitted his house. On