It was some moments before she recovered herself enough to examine the papers. The contents overwhelmed her with gratitude; she burst into a flood of tears, the papers in her hand, when unexpectedly the Count stood before her. "Good heavens! (he cried) what means this distress, these tears?" "O, my Lord, (answered she,) they are tears of sensibility and gratitude." "I rejoice to hear it, (replied the Count) heaven forbid they should ever flow from any other cause." He seated himself by her, she dried her eyes, and put the papers in her pocket. "I congratulate you, madam, (resumed he) on the happy turn in your affairs, which the Marquis has informed me of." "You know me then for an unhappy deserted orphan?" (said she, blushing and mortified.) "I know you (replied he, eagerly) for the most amiable of your sex; no adventitious advantages of birth or fortune can add to those claims your own merit gives you to universal esteem." "Ah, my Lord, (said she) to generous spirits like yours and this family's, misfortunes are a
