When you are gone, I shall think of
many things I would have said to you.' 'And I of many--many!' said
Valancourt; 'I never left you yet, that I did not immediately remember
some question, or some entreaty, or some circumstance, concerning my
love, that I earnestly wished to mention, and feel wretched because I
could not. O Emily! this countenance, on which I now gaze--will, in a
moment, be gone from my eyes, and not all the efforts of fancy will be
able to recall it with exactness. O! what an infinite difference between
this moment and the next! NOW, I am in your presence, can behold you!
THEN, all will be a dreary blank--and I shall be a wanderer, exiled from
my only home!' Valancourt again pressed her to his heart, and held her there in
silence, weeping
. Tears once again calmed her oppressed mind. They again
bade each other farewell, lingered a moment, and then parted. Valancourt
seemed to force himself from the spot; he passed hastily up the avenue,
and Emily, as she moved slowly towards the chateau, heard his distant
steps. She listened to the sounds, as they sunk fainter and fainter,
till the melancholy stillness of night alone remained; and then
hurried to her chamber, to seek repose, which, alas! was fled from her
wretchedness.