Pickwick Abroad: A Companion to the Pickwick Papers — page 181: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

} ~ attracts, or his glances intimidate me! ” PICKWICK ABROAD. ay! ) ¢ a a 168 me aga to ta ee y ou ony Madame ede | wy who would not, j join my hand with that er: was wets io i -sfuse the oy a alae when my mother ‘ac pean me by accept. et } ; months did my mother exist in splendor ing it with mar y thanks. a . Can give no further th rtunate . party,—unfortunate, be- | hrew me in. the way of one who aled my imagination, bewildered my senses, and inflamed my soul with his con- versation and his glances! ier ce it to say, that when he and his friend had departed, I ‘could not help wishing that they had staid a little longer; and ypon the following even- ing, when my mother and I returned from the Italian Opera, I regretted within myself that Alphonse did not — the Count de Franconville. “And yet,’ thought I, “I db: not love this great nobleman: his wealth and lofty posi- tion astound, as much as his conversation No —I love Alphonse—and never will I be un- faithful to him !” I hastily dispatched a note to my lover, to assw’g him that indisposition alone had prevented me from meeting him as usual ; and his reply was couched in the most en- dearing and affectionate terms. nutes after I had received his note, the Count called, and for a few hours I egain forgot Alphonse Germilly. r -Some months passed away, and myiexis- tence was composed of a strange medley of hours of excitement, depression, and of doubt. I enjoyed a calm and tranquil felicity in the sc oc ety of Alphonse,—with the Count I was happy, but in a different wa —and ae alone, I was tormented with a thousan bite nnd passions and feel- But this autobing apie is rather intended to be a narrative of events than a detail “ thoughts and reflections. Without to notice all the wiles and artitices that were practised, both by my mother and the Count to decoy me from the path of virtue, —without stopping to account for the con- cession which I made to the schemes of du- plicity on the one side, instead of to the whis- perings of tender affection on the other,— and without breaking the thread of my narrative to show how step by step, I ad- vanced towards that abyss which eventually swallowed me up,—let me at once tell the sad tale, and confess that I became the vic- Five mi- of the honcrable but more humble individual who would have made me his wife ! For six months did I receive the visits ot the Count de Franconyille—and ° for six upon the wages of her daughter’s shame, I still continued to see Alphonse in private, from time to time; but he knew not my de- graded condition. ‘J required the conversa tion of a good and virtuous being—I wanted a friend—and his society was “the consola, tion that I sought. At length the Count very unceremoniously withdrew his protection ; my mother again returned to the stage; and I was once more at liberty to see my still beloved and loving ih tphenge as be- fore. He pressed me to accept his hand, and make him happy; and I was more than ever inclined to abandon the ambitious views which my mother had encouraged me to entertain, and retire at once into a happy but an humble sphere of life. And yet how could I deceive an excellent and kind- hearted young man? Days and weeks passed away, and still I hesitated whatstep totake. At length a circumstance occurred which put an end to my doubts and deliber- ations. I found that I was im a way to become a mother, and that I could not longer | conceal the results of my amour with the Count de Franconville from the world | “You have frequently pressed me, Al- phonse,” said I, one evening to Ger milly, as we were seated opposite the Café Ture to- gether,—* you have frequently pressed me ~ to become your wife, and I hitherto have as often refused. Mention not the subject again—believe me, I love you-—and if at the expiration of a year you entertain the same sentiments as you do this moment, I promise you that I will place no impedi- ment in the way of our union.” “ And wherefore this delay, Anastasie ?” exclairned Alphonse: “ why procrastinate the happy moment ?” “A relation whom I sincerely love—an aunt—whom you have never seen—is nuw at the point of death! She lives far from Paris—oh! very far—in one of the distant provinces; and I must repair to the place of her residence to be near and with ber. Should she succumb to the force of her ma- tim of the man of dissipation and pipes. few se in her society.” % lady, the period I have indicated must ~ , elapse before we can be happy; andshould = she recover, I have promised to wa a all vj ‘ ne . COMIC IOOKS. COM