She had intended
making up with him at the evening dance; but his sudden departure
prevented her. She now promised herself that when next they met she
would amply repay him by the sweets of a perfect reconciliation, and
that, thenceforward, she would never--never tease him more! That
promise was not to be fulfilled. Day after day passed--but Eugene did
not make his appearance. Sunday evening came, the usual time when all
the gayety of the village assembled--butEugene was not there. She
inquired after him; he had left the village. She now became alarmed,
and, forgetting all coyness and affected indifference, called on
Eugene's mother for an explanation. She found her full of affliction,
and learnt with surprise and consternation that Eugene had gone to
sea.
While his feelings were yet smarting with her affected disdain, and
his heart a prey to alternate indignation and despair, he had suddenly
embraced an invitation which had repeatedly been made him by a
relation, who was fitting out a ship from the port of Honfleur, and
who wished him to be the companion of his voyage. Absence appeared to
him the only cure for his unlucky passion; and in the temporary
transports of his feelings, there was something gratifying in the idea
of having half the world intervene between them.
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