THK MON'^. 71 



ad soon as he had overcome his emotion, said, " Sir, I am more 

 distressed for the pain I have occasioned you than at the memory 

 of my own misfortunes. I feel fully convinced that you possess a 

 heart that can sympathise with the distresses of another ; and as a 

 testimony of my opinion, I will acquaint you with the cause of my 

 agitation, and why I became a victim to the austerities of a cloister. 

 But again," added he, after a slight pause, " why should I unlock 

 the secret chamber, and cause trouble to a friend ? ' the heart knoweth 

 its own bitterness, and a stranger intermeddleth not therewith.* " 

 " Stay, worthy sir," said I ; think not of my feelings, for the same 

 book you have quoted says, * As iron sharpeneth iron, so does the 

 face of a man his friend ' ; if, therefore, it would not grieve you too 

 much, I entreat you to proceed." 



" That girl," said the monk, " whose absence but now gave so 

 sudden a shock to my feelings, is my own child. She knows not 

 that I am her father ; and I am to lose her to-morrow, perhaps for 

 ever ! I think, sir, you remarked that my daughter resembled me ; 

 but I can ti*ace another likeness in her countenance — a likeness of 

 one who, when 1 was in the bloom of youth, filled my young heart 

 with ardour and attachment ; in her countenance I trace a likeness 

 that gives me anguish and pleasure — that revives the memory of one 

 who was dear as fatal to me ; — she is the image of her mother." 

 Here his feelings were so excited that tears flowed copiously, and 

 some moments' silence ensued ere he resumed his narrative. 



" I am named Father Bernard, and am a younger son of an 

 ancient and honourable family residing in Italy, the garden of 

 Europe. My boyish days I pass over. At the age of seventeen I 

 entered the royal service ; and ere I had reached the age of twenty- 

 four I was appointed to a company of infantry. During a skirmish 

 with a foraging party, through some unforeseen circumstance I saved 

 the life of Count de Linwood, a wealthy French nobleman. The 

 Count and my father were on strict terms of intimacy, cuid he had 

 ofttimes shewn me great marks of esteem. 



" As soon as the war tenninated, the Count insisted on my passing 

 a month with him ; accordingly, instead of my returning to Italy, I 

 accompanied him to the castle. His family was but small, consisting of 



