40 Monsieur St. Croix ; [\!AN. 



it a thousand times, and would that I could for ever ! The sun was 

 sinking bright and cloudlessly towards the western horizon as we crossed 

 the broad fields of La Planchette from the Barrier Courcelle, and we lin- 

 gered awhile in our little boat on the Seine, to watch its golden beams 

 reflected in the -stream, and listen to the softened hum of festivities on 

 its banks. It was the last time I ever experienced the consciousness of 

 happiness. 



Dancing had already commenced when we reached the village-green, 

 and many happy groups were seated around the space left for the rustic 

 performers, sharing their bottle of indifferent wine, and knocking their 

 glasses together with jovial salutations. Black eyes without number 

 were levelled at my companions and myself, as soon as we pushed our 

 way through the moving crowd, and they were not long in choosing 

 partners for the dance. I was no lover of the pastime ; early education 

 had made it awkward to me, and having no desire to exhibit before so 

 large an audience, I sought amusement in the contemplation of the busy 

 scene of happy faces around me. But my attention was soon entirely 

 absorbed by one object. Immediately opposite to me, and surrounded 

 by a group of persons, who, though dressed with republican simplicity, 

 were manifestly of the highest class, sat a young female of extraordinary 

 beauty : she might be about nineteen. But why should I attempt to 

 describe what no language nor limner's art could ever paint ? Poor 

 Claudine ! Can it be that I survive to write thus of thee ? Can it be 

 that my mind can contemplate thy perfections without being lost in 

 madness ? 



Yes, she was perfection ! and from the instant I beheld her, on that 

 village-green, with the full light of the sinking sun irradiating her calm 

 and gentle beauty, the conviction that she was so, sunk deep in my heart. 

 None but a madman could ever have doubted it for an instant. 



I was like one planet-stricken from the moment I beheld her ; I could 

 not remove my gaze ; the crowd and their sports became alike invisible ; 

 their sounds of mirth, and the discord of their rustic music, were equally 

 inaudible to my ear ; I saw only the lovely being before me ; I heard 

 only the magical sweetness of her voice, when she occasionally addressed 

 her companions. At length I thought she remarked my admiration ; for 

 when her eyes met mine for an instant, a deep colour mounted to her 

 temples, and she turned aside to speak to a gentleman near at hand. I 

 would have given all I possessed at that moment, to have been him whom 

 she thus addressed and smiled upon, though he was old enough to have 

 been my grandfather. The jokes of my friends on my abstraction, at the 

 end of the dance, first aroused me from my trance ; but it was not till 

 another set was nearly formed, that I remembered the possibility of 

 obtaining the goddess of my idolatry as a partner. My hatred of danc- 

 ing was instantly forgotten. I advanced towards the beautiful unknown 

 with a palpitating heart, and in an agitated voice requested that honour. 

 I was refused with the utmost politeness ; but firmly and decidedly I 

 was refused. There was nothing astonishing in this ; for she had not 

 danced during the evening with any, even of her own party : but I was 

 offended, irritated, and annoyed ; I was disappointed. In spite of my 

 enthusiasm for liberty, the pride of my ancestry mounted in my heart, 

 and I felt a haughty consciousness that if she had known who I was, I 

 should not have been thus rejected, though I thought that my personal 

 advantages might have exempted me from the insult. 



