the Count stood before her. "Good heavens! (he cried) what means this distress, these tears?" "O, my lord, (answered she) they are tears of sensibility and gratitude." "I rejoice to hear it, (replied the Count) heaven forbid they should ever flow from any other cause." He seated himself by her, she dried her eyes, and put the papers in her pocket. "I congratulate you, madam, (resumed he) on the happy turn in your affairs, which the Marquis has informed me of." "You know me then for an unhappy deserted orphan?" (said she, blushing and mortified.) "I know you (replied he, eagerly) for the most amiable of your sex; no adventitious advantages of birth or fortune can add to those claims your own merit gives you to universal esteem." "Ah, my Lord, (said she) to generous spirits like your's and this family's, misfortunes are a recommendation to kindness and attention, but with the generality of mankind I have not to learn it must be otherwise. Stranger as I am to the manners and customs of the world. I am sensible birth and fortune have superior advantages, and that without them, though with liberel minds we may obtain compassion, we can never hope for consideration or respect." "Pardon me, madam, (replied the Count) if I presume to say you judge erroneously; she who with merit, with good sense, delicacy, and refined sentiments can command respect, is a thousand times superior to those whose inferiority of mind disgraces a rank which the other would ennoble." "You are very kind, sir, (said Matilda, rising, and tho' unable to support a conversation which she feared might grow too interesting for her peace:) you are truly friendly, in endeavouring to reconcile me to myself; and I have no way of deserving your favorable judgment, but by constantly remembering what I am, that I may at least preserve my humility." She courtesied and walked fast towards the house, and to the apartment of the Countess. That lady was alone, her head resting on her hand, and seemed buried in
Page:The Castle of Wolfenbach - Parsons - 1854.djvu/156
