Having read it, she closed the paper, and presented it to Anselmo; and with full confidence in his endeavours being crowned with ultimate success, she departed, expressing at the same time her warmest thanks, and in assuring the count of the gratitude Montauban would! ever feel for his benevolence. The interview Anselmo had just had with Almeria was of that kind the most capable of affecting the human heart.. A young and amiable woman, pleading. the cause of a husband, on whose happiness or misery, through life, depended! that of hers, is certainly accompanied with an almost irresistible claim to our attention and generosity. Several weeks, however, were passed by madame de Montauban in anxious. suspense, respecting the success or fail-ure of her application. Hope, fear, and doubt, had alternately taken possessionof her mind; but at the end of a month all anxiety was terminated; for on here second second interview with count Anselmo, who had obligingly waited on the fair supplicant, to announce the reply of his. sovereign relative to the petition of her husband, he imparted to her the pleasing intelligence of the prayer being granted, with full permission to seek the redress: he solicited for. 66 The sudden change in the countenanceof Almeria, from hopeless despondence to the liveliest joy, spoke most forcibly to the feelings of the count, the sincerity of her love for Montauban: he there-fore suggested that an immediate courier should be sent off to apprize the general of the result. 'Oh, no," replied madame, with peculiar energy, “I will be myself the messenger, the bearer of the happy tidings, as the conviction that every moment that will be leading me nearer to him, may allay much of the inquietude I do even yet suffer on his account. Fears for his health, strange presages of future evil, ever the com panion panion I believe of the unfortunate, continually possess me, and-"—“ My dear madam," said the count, rising from his seat, and hastily interrupting her, "I fervently hope, when I have the satisfaction of again seeing you, these forebodings of unhappiness may have given way to the delightful sensation of promising felicity." After which, with every demonstration of his friendship, Anselmo departed, almost overpowered with her thanks and benedictions. CHAP. CHAP. II. "Dignity and grace Adorn his frame, and manly beauty, join'd Where justice gives the laurel; in his eye, The souls of patriots; while his brow supports SUCH was Leontine de Montauban, for whom the count had already professed so great, an interest; not merely at the representation tendered by Almeria, but from having frequently heard the most honourable mention of the general by the officers of his regiment, by whom he was was universally beloved and respected. To the parents of Almeria the count had been more than once introduced by his father, the elder Anselmo having been on terms of intimacy with them during their residence in Venice. St. Orvillé, although not in affluent circumstances, had contrived on his small patrimony to educate his son and two daughters, Almeria and Olivia, in all the branches of polite literature. Possessed of every accomplishment, united to great per sonal charms, and of unblemished character, the family of St. Orville had been early received amongst the first circles of fashionable life: they did not court esteem, or popularity, but it followed them wherever they went. Adjoining to their villa, which was remarkable for the beauty of its situation and elegant simplicity, stood the cháteau of Montauban, formerly belonging. to a French marquis of that name, who had been a resident in Italy for many years |