of fortune was his only objection to the Chevalier, he would gladly remove that deficiency, and he had both interest and inclination to procure him a handsome establishment: that from the affection he bore me and my sister, it was his earnest desire to see her happy, if at the expence of one-third of his fortune."
To this letter we received no answer within the expected time. I grew very uneasy, I wrote again to my sister. It was more than a month before I received any return. I have it now in my pocket book: the Marchioness took it out, and read as follows.
Countess of Wolfenbach.
tο
The Marchioness.
My dearest Sister,
"Just recovered from the jaws of death, the lost unhappy Victoria acknowledges the receipt of your kind letter: alas! the contents have almost broken a heart already exhausted by grief and despair. I have been a wife five weeks, near a month I was confined to my bed; but if I can, I will be methodical in the relation of what has befallen me. The letter your generous and respectable husband wrote, unfortunately was delivered by the servant in the same moment with one from the Chevalier. My father believed you acted in concert. Never shall I forget the fury of his countenance. "This insolent Frenchman wants to degrade me into a dependence on him, and marry my daughter to his beggarly countryman." "Ah! my father, (cried I) do not judge so unkindly of my excellent brother, his views are for our general happiness." "And that, (said he, interrupting me, furiously) can be accomplished without his interference; the Count has a noble fortune, high birth, a title, and is a German—not another word, (added he, seeing me about to speak) not a single
