Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 2).djvu/5

warmly urged by her father, she drank a glass of wine, and instantly burst into a torrent of tears, so violent that I was quite terrified.—For upwards of an hour she wept incessantly, till quite exhausted she was conveyed to her apartment, and in all probability the tears she shed preserved her intellects, as, after they had ceased to flow, she grew more composed, spoke to her attendant, but passed the night without rest, and sighed continually.—The next day the Count passed above two hours with her alone, and then led her into the saloon to me. Pale, trembling and dejected, she received my ardent addresses without manifesting any reluctance, yet, without the least mark of complacency, tortured to death by her cold disdain, I ventured to complain, to remonstrate. She turned her eyes full upon me:—"Of what, Sir, can you complain? I hear you, I obey my father, you know I can do no more, I cannot play the hypocrite; if I become your wife I shall do my duty, but love or affection I can never promise, and—she paused, then fixing her