The house at which he directed the coach to stop had a very elegant appearance. It bore the aspect of being inhabited by people of great opulence. This circumstance, which Linval made me remark, added to the good opinion we had already conceived of Sans-Chagrin, while he desired us to remain in the carriage, saying that it would not be long till he would be back with us again. In fact, it was not five minutes before he appeared, followed by a lusty man, who exhibited every mark of the most perfect health and good humour. He with great cheerfulness congratulated us upon our safe arrival, and requested us to walk in with him.

Delighted at his frank and sincere manners, we followed him without ceremony. On entering the room into which he conducted us, he turned to us and said--

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Young gentlemen, since you are the "friends of my cousin Franville, (the fa

mily name of Sans-Chagrin,) you may "consider this house as your own; call

"for every thing you wish for, and you "will be immediately served." Then, without giving us time to thank him, he added..." Your extreme youth and in"deed the manner in which you travel, "induce me to suspect that some whim "has made you quit your parents to run "into the world. But as these are things " that do not belong to me, I am far from desiring to get at your story. Mine is simple. I have retired for these two "last years from commerce, and enjoy a genteel income, which I spend discreetly, and nothing more. The principal I "leave for my daughter Zelia, the only

pledge left me of an adored wife, of "whom it has pleased heaven to deprive "me. You shall see her at dinner---she "is a lovely child, and will be a blessing "to him who may obtain her. As she "has not yet declared in favour of any

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one, I this day give a dinner to all those "competitors who have asked her from me, in order to discover on which of "them she fixes her choice. You will

"be of our company. As they are all "alike agreeable to me, my consent will "follow my daughter's inclinations--"she shall marry, and you shall dance

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at her nuptials. But, all this while, "breakfast waits for us." He rung a bell. In an instant we were served with a banquet of meat and fruits, which gave us a very high idea of the dinner that had been announced to us. Our repast being over, he told us that business compelled him to leave us, and that he left with Sans-Chagrin the permission and the care to introduce us to his house, and then went away. The garden which lay before the room where we sat, instantly attracted our curiosity. We descended to it. After having conversed for some time with Sans-Chagrin upon the subject of his happiness in possessing relations and friends so truly generous, we insensibly separated, admiring the beauties of the garden. Sans-Chagrin who, when once he formed the plan of a love affair, did not like to protract the business to

any unnecessary length, profited by our admiration of the garden to fly to his young widow, who resided at no great distance. Linval, who was struck with the recital of the worthy Mr. Franville, remarked to me at this time what the happiness of that lover must be whom Zelia should prefer and as for me, in whom the bare mention of her name had excited the most strange sensations, agitating my frame with feelings I had never before experienced, I portrayed her to myself as ten thousand times more lovely still than her father had represented her.

From the time that I had attained the age at which the impressions of love are first felt, my heart had never acknowledged any of the beautiful women who figured in my country. Insensible to their charms, though flattered by their at tention, the most lovely had not been able to inspire me with a wish to possess her. In a word, I was entirely ignorant of the pleasures or the torments of love. But

such is the power of destiny--- that, which the most striking beauties of my native home could not do, the bare name of one effected. Zelia, whom I had never seen ...Zelia, who possibly had not half the charms which her father ascribed to her, in one moment made all the faculties of my soul captive.

The better to indulge my imagination with reflections upon Zelia, I entered a grotto that presented itself, and there I meditated on the means by which I might best hope to distinguish myself from my other rivals. The beauty of Zelia, which I portrayed to myself as perfect---the merit of the competitors for her favour, who were all endeavouring to obtain her, seemed to be insurmountable obstacles to my success, and I determined at first to struggle with the strange passion that tormented me. But that was useless--my hour for loving was come. I therefore settled in my own mind the manner in which I should conduct myself