"Farewell, my friend; I send love to your children, and beg you to
remember me to your excellent wife.--Yours,
"ALBERT."
Rosalie read this letter twice through, and its general purport was
stamped on her heart. She suddenly saw the whole of Albert's previous
existence, for her quick intelligence threw light on all the details,
and enabled her to take it all in. By adding this information to the
little novel published in the _Review_, she now fully understood
Albert. Of course, she exaggerated the greatness, remarkable as it
was, of this lofty soul and potent will, and her love for Albert
thenceforth became a passion, its violence enhanced by all the
strength of her youth, the weariness of her solitude, and the unspent
energy of her character. Love is in a young girl the effect of a
natural law; but when her craving for affection is centered in an
exceptional man, it is mingled with the enthusiasm which overflows in
a youthful heart. Thus Mademoiselle de Watteville had in a few days
reached a morbid and very dangerous stage of enamored infatuation. The
Baroness was much pleased with her daughter, who, being under the
spell of her absorbing thoughts, never resisted her will, seemed to be
devoted to feminine occupations, and realized her mother's ideal of a
docile daughter.
The lawyer was now engaged in Court two or three times a week. Though
he was overwhelmed with business, he found time to attend the trials,
call on the litigious merchants, and conduct the _Review_; keeping up
his personal mystery, from the conviction that the more covert and
hidden was his influence, the more real it would be.
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