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CHAP. VI.
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The joys of meeting pay the pangs of absence.
The nearest neighbours the Countess had, were a Madame Chatteneuf and her daughter: they resided in a garrison town at the foot of the Alps, about three leagues from the chateau. They were people of fortune, amiable, elegant, and accomplished; and their house was the constant resort of all the gay and fashionable people in its vicinity. To them the Countess determined to introduce Madeline, not only as a means