Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 4).djvu/100

This page needs to be proofread.

what has happened since my departure from it; and why the marriage of the Count with Elenora was concealed from me."

'It never was the wish of your brother to have it concealed from you,' said the monk, sitting down on the pavement, where I had seated myself unable to stand.

''Tis now near a twelvemonth (continued he), since it took place; the ceremony was performed by me. The accident which introduced your brother to the castle you already know: almost from the first moment he and Lady Elenora beheld each other, they became mutually enamoured; the watchful eyes of a parent easily discovered their attachment; and the Earl soon demanded an explanation of your brother's intentions.

'It was his most ardent wish, the Count said, to be united to Lady Elenora; but it was a wish, he candidly confessed, which he durst not reveal to his father, whose avarice and ambition he knew, notwithstanding his extravagant partiality for him, would forbid