第54章

'Several days,' he replied.'It was my design to avail myself of the permission M.St.Aubert had given me.I scarcely know how to account for it; but, though I anxiously wished to do this, my resolution always failed, when the moment approached, and Iconstantly deferred my visit.I lodged in a village at some distance, and wandered with my dogs, among the scenes of this charming country, wishing continually to meet you, yet not daring to visit you.'

Having thus continued to converse, without perceiving the flight of time, Valancourt, at length, seemed to recollect himself.'I must go,' said he mournfully, 'but it is with the hope of seeing you again, of being permitted to pay my respects to your family; let me hear this hope confirmed by your voice.' 'My family will be happy to see any friend of my dear father,' said Emily.Valancourt kissed her hand, and still lingered, unable to depart, while Emily sat silently, with her eyes bent on the ground; and Valancourt, as he gazed on her, considered that it would soon be impossible for him to recall, even to his memory, the exact resemblance of the beautiful countenance he then beheld; at this moment an hasty footstep approached from behind the plane-tree, and, turning her eyes, Emily saw Madame Cheron.She felt a blush steal upon her cheek, and her frame trembled with the emotion of her mind; but she instantly rose to meet her visitor.

'So, niece!' said Madame Cheron, casting a look of surprise and enquiry on Valancourt, 'so niece, how do you do? But I need not ask, your looks tell me you have already recovered your loss.'

'My looks do me injustice then, Madame, my loss I know can never be recovered.'

'Well--well! I will not argue with you; I see you have exactly your father's disposition; and let me tell you it would have been much happier for him, poor man! if it had been a different one.'

A look of dignified displeasure, with which Emily regarded Madame Cheron, while she spoke, would have touched almost any other heart;she made no other reply, but introduced Valancourt, who could scarcely stifle the resentment he felt, and whose bow Madame Cheron returned with a slight curtsy, and a look of supercilious examination.After a few moments he took leave of Emily, in a manner, that hastily expressed his pain both at his own departure, and at leaving her to the society of Madame Cheron.

'Who is that young man?' said her aunt, in an accent which equally implied inquisitiveness and censure.'Some idle admirer of yours Isuppose; but I believed niece you had a greater sense of propriety, than to have received the visits of any young man in your present unfriended situation.Let me tell you the world will observe those things, and it will talk, aye and very freely too.'

Emily, extremely shocked at this coarse speech, attempted to interrupt it; but Madame Cheron would proceed, with all the self-importance of a person, to whom power is new.

'It is very necessary you should be under the eye of some person more able to guide you than yourself.I, indeed, have not much leisure for such a task; however, since your poor father made it his last request, that I should overlook your conduct--I must even take you under my care.But this let me tell you niece, that, unless you will determine to be very conformable to my direction, I shall not trouble myself longer about you.'

Emily made no attempt to interrupt Madame Cheron a second time, grief and the pride of conscious innocence kept her silent, till her aunt said, 'I am now come to take you with me to Tholouse; I am sorry to find, that your poor father died, after all, in such indifferent circumstances; however, I shall take you home with me.Ah! poor man, he was always more generous than provident, or he would not have left his daughter dependent on his relations.'

'Nor has he done so, I hope, madam,' said Emily calmly, 'nor did his pecuniary misfortunes arise from that noble generosity, which always distinguished him.The affairs of M.de Motteville may, I trust, yet be settled without deeply injuring his creditors, and in the meantime I should be very happy to remain at La Vallee.'

'No doubt you would,' replied Madame Cheron, with a smile of irony, 'and I shall no doubt consent to this, since I see how necessary tranquillity and retirement are to restore your spirits.I did not think you capable of so much duplicity, niece; when you pleaded this excuse for remaining here, I foolishly believed it to be a just one, nor expected to have found with you so agreeable a companion as this M.La Val--, I forget his name.'

Emily could no longer endure these cruel indignities.'It was a just one, madam,' said she; 'and now, indeed, I feel more than ever the value of the retirement I then solicited; and, if the purport of your visit is only to add insult to the sorrows of your brother's child, she could well have spared it.'

'I see that I have undertaken a very troublesome task,' said Madame Cheron, colouring highly.'I am sure, madam,' said Emily mildly, and endeavouring to restrain her tears, 'I am sure my father did not mean it should be such.I have the happiness to reflect, that my conduct under his eye was such as he often delighted to approve.It would be very painful to me to disobey the sister of such a parent, and, if you believe the task will really be so troublesome, I must lament, that it is yours.'

'Well! niece, fine speaking signifies little.I am willing, in consideration of my poor brother, to overlook the impropriety of your late conduct, and to try what your future will be.'

Emily interrupted her, to beg she would explain what was the impropriety she alluded to.

'What impropriety! why that of receiving the visits of a lover unknown to your family,' replied Madame Cheron, not considering the impropriety of which she had herself been guilty, in exposing her niece to the possibility of conduct so erroneous.