shall I have strength to utter it? my interest in Dumont must be on my own account.' When she had pronounced these words, shame glowed in blushes all over her face, nor did she dare to look up to see in what manner they were received.
"Dumont was struck with horror and amazement at what he had heard; he could not persuade himself he was awake. The words, 'You must give up Isabelle, and forget the Marquis de Stainville was ever your friend,' resounded in his ears, and filled him with such astonishment, that he had no force to answer them, and they both remained for some time in silence. At last the Chevalier threw himself on his knees before Dorimene, and said he could not pretend to be ignorant of the meaning of her words, for they were but too plain; and he could curse himself for being the cause (though innocently) of her suffering a moment's pain. 'But,' continued he, 'I conjure you, madam, by all the ties of virtue and of honour, to collect all your force, make use of that strength of reason nature has given you gloriously to conquer this unfortunate passion which has seized you, and which, if indulged, must inevitably end in the destruction of us all. To wrong my friend—I shudder at the very thought of it; and to forego Isabelle just when I was on the point of possessing her for ever, it is utterly impossible. Oh, Dorimene! recall those wild commands, return again to your own virtue, and do not think of sacrificing all your future peace to hopes so guilty and so extravagant!'
"She was all attention while he was speaking; but every argument he used, and every word he spoke, did but inflame her the more; for it was the pleasure she received from hearing him talk, and the seeing him thus humbly supplicating at her feet, and not what he said, that made her listen so attentively to him: in disclosing her mind she had got over the first, and consequently the most difficult, step. She
