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will henceforth make your happiness permanent. But, my dear Matilda, I can perceive your confidence in your charming mother has not been quite unreserved; I plainly see she is a stranger even to the name of the Count De Bouville; how comes that to be the case?" "As all possibility of any connexion between the Count and myself was at an end, I conceived there would be an indelicacy in mentioning his former offers to my mother; yet perhaps I was wrong, and ought to have done justice to the sentiments he then honoured me with, as they proved his generosity and nobleness of mind. If I have been wrong, (said she, with a sigh) 'tis not too late to repair the fault, though it can be of no consequence to him now." "Your words astonish me, (cried the Marchioness;) what has the Count De Bouville done to have forfeited your esteem?" "Nothing, madam, (replied she, confused;) he has done nothing to lessen his merit or virtues in my estimation. I think indeed, (resumed her friend) you must be strangely altered. If it should be so, for I