The Works of George W. M. Reynolds — page 151: what you’re looking at

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

134 REYNOLDS’ WORKS one who was merely paying an ordinary visit, and came for no special purpose, because he naturally concluded that the viscount had not explained to his wife a single detail of the circumstances which had thus induced him to seek her presence at a time when he was wont to be absent from her. The marquis saw that Stephanie was completely happy, and during half an hour’s conversation, he likewise perceived that the viscount treated her with a kindness which was truly affectionate, without being so overstrained as to excite her suspicion that 1t was the result of no ordinary occurrences. When Villebelle rose to take his departure, Jules de Chateau- neuf accompanied him from the room, and leading him into another, embraced him with the most grateful warmth. “Through you, Villebelle,’’ exclaimed Jules, “I have been awakened from the most delusive of dreams. Yours indeed is the hand which has snatched me back from the brink of a precipice. You have saved me from consum- mating toward my wife an outrage which I should full soon have been compelled bitterly to repent. Ah, when I ere now _ broke away from the presence of that guileful siren, 1t was with a sudden springing up of the tenderest yearning toward Stephanie. All her good qualities seemed to crowd in upon my convictions in a moment; they blazed, as it were, upon my mental view; they made me comprehend what a treasure I possessed in her, and how infamously I had been about to sacrifice her.’’ ‘“My dear friend,’’ answered Villebelle, “‘ you know not the pleasure it affords me in hearing you thus speak. Ah, Jules, it would have indeed been something to be deeply deplored if a noble heart such as_yours naturally is had been ruined by an infatuation.”’ ‘“T am an altered man,’ replied the count. ‘‘ A veil has fallen from my eyes, and in the same moment that the char- acter of one woman was exposed in its darkness, that of another was revealed in its brightness. Yes, I am an altered man, and perhaps it is fortunate that all this should have taken place. Hitherto I had not loved Stephanie, now I feel that I can adore her; hitherto her demonstrations of tender- ness had appeared to me insipid and of schoolgirl mawkish- ness, henceforth they will constitute the greatest charms of my existence. Oh, I feel, my dear friend, that there are moments in a man’s life when it requires some startling inci- ¢ CONNIE DOO KS (E(0)