The Steam-Packet: A Tale of the River and the Ocean — page 263: what you’re looking at

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

198 THE STEAM PACKET. to their object than on the day when they first set foot in Paris together. During all this long sojourn in the metropolis of France, Pauline had led a most retired and secluded life—seldom quitting her own domestic hearth, and though not surrendering herself up to a wild and frantic grief, still imbued with a profound melancholy, which her devoted husband’s tenderness alone softened down, and at times arrested. Henri had at first been much away from home, prosecuting his in- quiries with a perseverance and energy which deserved success; but he gradually relaxed from this ardent application to the one grand object :—not that he grew cold or callous; but because he was com- pelled at length to admit the utter inefficiency of his means to penetrate a mystery which seemed as insurmountable as that of futurity itself. He also saw the necessity of devoting more of his time to Pauline; and thus this fond couple knew no wish for society, but seemed happiest when compelled to trust only to each other for consolation or pastime: they formed no acquaintances, frequented no places of amusement, and ab- stained from appearing in public as much as possible. The mysterious event into the secret of which they could not penetrate, had imbued their minds with a certain superstitious dread of evil when they were separated; and this presentiment—so excusable, and also so natural in minds harbouring implicit conviction in the doctrines and dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church—was also a bond tending to link them almost inseparably together. It was probably this species of superstitious feeling—a sentiment for which they often blamed themselves, but of which they could not divest their minds—that induced Henri to propose a new plan for the solution of the mystery which enveloped the fates of Pierre and Albert Michel. At the epoch of which we are now writing—and which, the reader will remember, was. that when France stood upon the eve of her first revolution—the name of Mademoiselle Lenormand began to be famous in Paris. This remarkable female—who was at that period only seventeen or eighteen years of age—had just commenced that profession of soothsaying which she has since prosecuted with such unrivalled success. During her youth, several remarkable prophecies which met with an exact fulfilment attracted the attention of the public towards her; and the moment she publicly announced her determination to devote to the general benefit a gift which she deemed to have been conferred upon her by heaven, her residence was crowded with the fashion, the nobility, the wealth, and the learning of Paris. Implicit faith was placed in her predictions; and as she was a woman of re- -markable penetration, she was often enabled to deduce correct opinions from-the combination of certain antecedent circumstances. Thus, by \ Gomichbooks:.co