which makes a fport of throwing poifoned darts, will do no mifchief to that honour, fo tender, and fo easily wounded, which you imprudently expofe?' I answered, that the innocence of my conduct was fo evident, that no perfon could attack it, without rendering himself odious.

And, indeed, as there was in my actions, in my converfation, and in the ingenuoufnefs of my difpofition, nothing like the artifices of coquetry; and as I thought of nothing more than being amiable, without taking any pride in making conquefts, illnature itself was pleased to spare me. My husband, it is true, fet the example of the confidence that was to be placed in my virtue. Without indifference or inattention, he permitted me to enjoy a liberty, of which he was very certain I should not make an ill ufe; and, in return, I faw without alarm, the liberty in which he indulged himself.

The love of literature, and efpecially a taste for theatrical entertainments, had enrolled him in a circle of connoiffeurs; and a friend, whom I accufe myself of fufpecting of perfidy, the chevalier d'Onval, had been his introducer. This fociety made the restoration of the French theatre its conftant pleasure and occupation. It offered encouragement to the poffeffors of rising talents, who were admitted to frequent fupper parties, at the houfe in which the fociety held its meetings.

'I well knew that young beauties there met with the attentions of gallantry; but perfuaded that my hufband loved me, and that he could love nothing but what was worthy of efteem, I should have blushed at thinking him capable of yielding to any feduction.

D'Onval, his friend, however, who alfo called himself mine, afked me, fometimes, if these little theatrical privy-councils, and transactions behind the fcenes, gave me no alarm, offering to perfuade his friend Vervanne to renounce all fuch connec

tions, if they excited in me the least uneafinefs.

D'Onval, perhaps, had nothing in view but my tranquillity; perhaps, he himself might wish to deftroy it. 'Tis a fufpicion I disclaim, but which, fince my misfortune, has recurred more than once to my mind. "So little," he would often fay to me, "is wanting to difturb the happiness of a heart endowed with fine feelings like yours! A fhadow of fufpicion, the flightest cloud over the conduct of my friend, however virtuous and honourable he may feem to me, makes me tremble for you both."-Alas! my dear daughter, it was I who removed thefe ideas, by affuring him, that my eteem for my husband was unalterable, and that I never could defcend to the fear of fuch rivality. I heard my husband himself praife the talents, the perfon, and the accomplishments of the actreffes; but as he did not dwell much on the fubject, my heart. admitted no kind of jealousy.

At length, this inestimable tranquillity was difturbed by a circumftance which I can ftill hardly credit, after having feen it with my own eyes.

My husband had lavished upon me all thofe ornaments of luxury, which were once fo much in fashion. I had diamonds of uncommon fize and water; and in my bracelets, earrings, egret, and dazzing necklace, the skill and tafte of the artift was ftill more admired than the richness of the ftones: however, after having for a few years enjoyed, I at lait neglected this frivolous amufement of youthful vanity. After your birth, the character of mother having given a little more folidity to my difpofition, I feldom attended to the advantages of drefs: I referved for my dear girl the diamonds that were become uselefs to myself. But one day, looking among my trinkets for a ring, which D'Onval afked me for, as a pattern, he faid, for one he was going to have fet, I moved the cafe of my diamonds: I perceived it was grown light; I

opened,

opened, and found it empty. I was inftantly alarmed: fuch a robbery, indeed, was well calculated to alarm me. I faid nothing of it, however, in the house; but I was in the greatest perplexity; and uncertain whether I fhould haften, or delay, to make my husband partake of my uneafinefs, I confulted D'Onval on this occafion.'

"No," faid he, "do not mention it to him: it would affli&t him to no purpose. Unless the robber should be cautious enough to have them unfet, they will be recovered. The police has the eyes of a lynx; and I will undertake to throw fome light upon its researches." I gave him all the particulars of which the police could want to discover my jewels, and truited entirely to his care.

The next day, he came with a fmiling countenance. "Good news!" faid he, "your diamonds are found." My first fenfation was that of joy. I had not flept the whole night, not doubting that the robber was an inmate of the house, but not daring to fufpect any particular perfon. "Ah!" cried I, "tell me instantly in whofe hands they were difcovered." "That," faid he, "is what you will never know. Were I to tell you, it would afflict you to no purpofe; and perhaps, after all, the crime is not fo great as you may think it. Be fatisfied with the affurance that they will be restored to you ere long: that is the most effential part of the bunness.” “No, fir," faid I, "it is not. I am tormented by fufpicion and anxiety, and till the robber be known to me, I fhall be afraid of feeing him in every one that approaches." "No," faid he, fmiling, "the robber is not dangerous, and I will be anfwerable for it, that he is able to make rettitution." I infifted; and at length gained my point. "I am going then," faid he, "to quiet your apprehenfions. But give me your word that this adventure fhall remain an inviolable secret between us." Thele words operated on my mind like a

fudden ray of light. "Sir," faid I, "what you fay, and the manner of your faying it, make me think it is my husband. What has he done with them? You need not be afraid to inform me: I shall make no complaint. He has perhaps met with a great lofs at play."-" No, you are mistaken," faid he; " my friend is too prudent to play for fums that would reduce him to fuch an expedient. Your diamonds are not fold; nor are they in pawn. I believe that the ufe he has made of them is more pardonable. However, it is poffible I may be deceived; and I defire you, to fee with your own eyes whether I am mistaken. After that, your good fenfe will inftruct you not to confider as a crime, what is, perhaps, no more than an indifcretion, a caprice, a fancy, or, perhaps, a moment of admiration and enthufiafm for youthful and uncommon talents."

At thefe words, I felt my heart shrink, the blood congeal in my veins, and my voice die away on my lips; but I contained my grief, and faid to him, with as calm an air as it was poffible to affume: "How, fir, can I afcertain what you fay with my own eyes?" "Nothing is more eafy,” replied he: "it was yesterday that Melania appeared for the first time in a part that requires great fplendour of drefs. She was fuch a perfect blaze of diamonds, that the public was ftruck by her appearance; while I, in confequence of the information you had given me, thought that I recollected your fpoils. To-morrow the will play the fame part. Go, and fee her, without being feen yourself: but once more, fair and tender Hortenfia, let me advife you, even after you are convinced of the weakness of my friend, not to manifeft any concern. An explanation would disturb for ever the repofe of your houfe, and embitter your whole life. Believe a fincere friend: gentleness, indulgence, and feeming ignorance of a hulband's infidelity, are the first qualities of a wife; for when the reproach is just,

fo far from healing, it only, ferves to envenom the wound."

Vervanne had often fpoken of this Melania in my prefence, without the leaft referve, as of a young and charming actress. Thefe expreffions were not effaced from my memory; but although all appearances agreed, I could not perfuade myself that a man in whom I had ever witneffed fo much delicacy, would abafe himself to far as to purloin my diamonds to give them to an actress. I spent twenty-four hours in anguish. I was obliged to collect all the little remains of my fortitude to a madame B-- for a feat in the back part of her box; and thither I repaired.

The fear and trembling with which I waited for the drawing up of the curtain, was like that of a victim in expectation of the fatal blow. My agitation increafed till Melania appeared. When the came upon the ftage, I recollected my diamonds. My eyes inftantly grew dim; a univerial fhivering feized me; and as I perceived I was about to faint, I begged to be taken into the air. I was led out of the theatre; my fervants were called; I ftepped into my carriage, and returned home, to give vent to my grief. What completely overwhelmed me, was the having feen your father, with his eyes intent upon the new actress, and feemingly much affected by all the fentiments her part expreffed, applaud her with the most rapturous transports.

When I was alone, in my dreffing-room, half reclined upon a fofa, and in the diforder of defpair; "It is all over," faid I to myself, "" my husband's heart is irrecoverably loft. Cruel man! how much has he deceived me!"

While I was thus loft in heartbreaking reflections, D'Onval came in, and found me all in tears, pale, defpairing, and d:fordered. "Heaven!" exclaimed he, "what have I done! To what a fituation has my imprudence reduced you! Forgive me, madam, forgive me, I entreat

you, for all the forrow of which I am the caufe. I am diftreffed at it beyond imagination."

At there words, and with a look of affliction, he took my hard, and preffed it to his lips with the strongest appearance of fympathifing forrow. Alas! I was far from fuppofing that there could be any thing in his compaffion offenfive to decency. But he who alone engaged my thoughts at that inftant, your father, came fuddenly in, and thought he had furprifed his perfidious friend in my arms.

Traitor," faid he, rufhing upon him fword in hand, this was then the reafon of your leaving me! Begone, fince you are unarmed; begone, your bafe heart is unworthy of my fword. Go, and die by the hand of fome wretch as infamous as yourfelf." D'Onval endeavoured to 1peak.

Begone," repeated my husband, "and ceafe to contaminate my houfe. And you, madam," faid he, with a bitternefs that went to my heart, and that has preyed upon it ever fince,

was this then the fainting fit that obliged you fo fuddenly to leave the theatre ?"

Indignant at this infult, 'I was going to anfwer, and to load him with reproaches; but he did not give me time. "Come, come, madam," faid he, "pride ill becomes the diforder you are in. In ten minutes the horses will be put to. Go, and drefs yourfelf decently to return to your mother. 'Tis in her arms, that you muft in future hide yourself."

A woman poffeffed of more fortitude or more temper than 1, would have remained in her own apartment, and waited for him there: the would have borne the firft affront, and with the calmness of innocence, at last have obtained a hearing. But I was hafty and imprudent; I felt nothing but the outrage, and faw nothing but the contrait of my honour calumniated, and the unworthy behaviour of a man who, after having betrayed me, durst condemn me, upon flight appearances, without allowing me time for juftifica

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tion.

tion. I retired to my mother's, refolved never more to fee the inhuman and perfidious wretch to whom I owed my dishonour.

My mother, after hearing me, endeavoured to prevail on me to write. "What," faid I, "defcend to explanations he would not believe, and court the esteem of a heart unworthy of mine! No, madam, fince fix years of irreproachable conduct have not induced him to have fome doubt of my guilt, nothing would lead him to believe me innocent. Accuftomed to fee vile and corrupted minds in the focieties he frequents, he fuppofes me equally bafe; and capable himself of the most infamous proceedings, he judges me by his own heart. Let him give that heart to his Melania. It is as unworthy my regret, as the vain ornaments of which he defpoiled me to give them to fuch a woman." My mother endeavoured in vain to foften me: I was inflexible. She wrote to him, however; but I made her promife that in her letter, fhe would only affure him, I was free from reproach, and that giving up all claim to my fortune, I asked for nothing but my daughter.

In his answer he paffed over in filence what he thought of me; a filence more cruel and contemptuous than his very infults! and refuting me my daughter, he reftored me my fortune only. Thus, my dear child, was our rupture completed.

It was my wifh, that at the age when made acquainted with my miffortune, you should not be ignorant of its caufe. Wrong not your mother, your expiring mother, by thinking the impofes on your credulity. If I had been guilty of the crime of which I am accufed, I fhould either have deplored it in filence, or I would depofit in your bofom my confeffion together with my repentance. But the real fault of which I accufe myfelf, and which I wish to guard you again, was that indifcretion, that imprudent and prefumptuous conAdence, which depending upon the

teftimony of my own conscience, made me think I had nothing else to conciliate. This is what ruined your mother. I have already faid, that I spent my youth in receiving the homage of a crowd of admirers; and yet I could fuppofe myfelf to be in no danger from calumny. As proud of pleating, and as vain as those who finth by being weak, I expected to be alone reputed exempt from weaknefs, in the midst of the rocks that furrounded me. From the poffeffion of my husband's efteem, I deduced a right to his unalterable confidence. Even when appearances were the most against me, I difdained to destroy them. Thefe, my dear daughter, were the errors of my life. I have not been able to conceal your father's firft fault; but it is to me that you ought to attribute it. If I had been lefs fond of diffipation, if I had been more attentive to please him, and if I had not given his defires time to ftray, he might never, alas! have loved another. Profit by my faults, and forget his. Love him as much as if he had always loved me; and when you fhall become a wife and mother, remember that it is decreed by the eternal laws of Nature, that the glory, the peace of mind, and the happiness of a woman are infeparable from her duty.'

It is not difficult to imagine the impreffion which the perufal of this paper made upon Vervanne. Diftreffed beyond meafure at having fo ill appreciated fuch a pure and virtuous inind, overwhelmed with the regret of having embittered and fhortened her life; relieved however from the reproach he had made her, as from a dreadful burden; impatient to go and expiate his fault at her knees; and begging of heaven to let him fee her at least before her death, of which he was the caufe, he kiffed a thousand times over the characters traced by her hand, which inflicted fo many new wounds upon his heart, but which cured one worfe than all of them together; and amid the fe emotions,

what

what was the indignation he felt, when in Hortenfia's narrative he difcovered all the dark dealings and villany of the perfidious D'Onval! Ah!' faid he, it was then I whom heaven avenged, by bringing him to an ignominious end. He spent the night in tears, begging heaven to give him time to make reparation for his injuftice; and the next morning, he fet off with his daughter in a poft

chaise for Livernon.

The surprise and joy of Hortenfia's mother were extreme, when she heard that Sylvia had brought her father with her. But when the approached to receive him, he begged him to fpare the fick perfon, and to give her a few moments to prepare her for the meeting, left fo fudden an emotion fhould put a period to her existence.

Ah! my dear mother,' faid Hortenfia, when apprifed by degrees of her husband's arrival, I am worfe than I thought I was! Let him then come to take a latt farewell, and forgive me the forrows with which I have embittered his life.'

Vervanne was scarcely in the prefence of his wife, when he caught hold of her hand, bedewed it with his tears, and implored her forgiveness.

You must be very generous,' faid fhe, with a look of tenderness, fince, believing me guilty, you-- No, I no longer believe it; I ought never to have believed it; my elteem for you should have better enabled me to refit deceitful appearances. But all is now explained. I was guilty of a breach of trust to my daughter; I opened her cafket; I read, and my breaft was no longer a prey to any thing but remorfe. But that remorfe does not accufe me of the infidelity of which you fuppofe me guilty. Believe, my dear Hortenfia, in the fincerity of a man with whofe heart you ought not to be unacquainted. As foon as you have ftrength fufficient to hear him, you will find him innocent, and ftill worthy of your love.'

The emotion of his wife on hear ing thefe few words was fo powerful,

and the fobbings of tenderness and joy they occafioned fo violent, that it feemed as if all the weak ligaments of her foul were giving way together.. This crifis was her falvation. The abfcefs, which was the feat of her difeafe, breaking fuddenly, difcharged itself from her breaft; and when the recovered from the fwoon into which he had fallen, the felt as if he had renewed her existence. The tranfports of joy, at this happy event, knew no bounds in the caftle of Livernon, which re-echoed with thankf givings and vows to heaven. The attentions of maternal love, with thofe of a daughter and of a husband, were united to complete the cure; and, in a fhort time, the patient was in a ftate of rapid recovery.

One day, the faid to her husband, with a charming gentleness of manner: You have then ever loved me? To this delightful idea is attached all the pleasure I feel in my renovated existence.'

You will be able to judge youre felf,' answered Vervanne, fhewing her the cafe that contained her diamonds. Here are your jewels, that were profaned for a moment without ever ceafing to be yours. Liften with calmnefs and filence; for it is not to you, but to this excellent mother that I addrefs myfelf.

There was a time, you well know, madam, when diamonds were confidered as an indifpenfable part of drefs. This time did not lait long; for virtuous women, on feeing the richest of all ornaments debafed, laid them afide in difguft. As early as the third year of our marriage, Hortenfia had bidden adieu to her diamonds. They were configned to this cafe, and forgotten.

The difeafe of pretending to wit was epidemical at that time, and I myfelf had not efcaped the contagion. I was one of a fociety which thought that it prefided over literature. The theatre, in particular, feemed to be our department. We were the counfellors and the patrons of actors; but

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the