door. Don't be
frightened, it is I.'

'And what brings you here so late, Maddelina?' said Emily, as she let
her in.

'Hush! signora, for heaven's sake hush!--if we are overheard I shall
never be forgiven. My father and mother and Bertrand are all gone
to bed,' continued Maddelina, as she gently shut the door, and crept
forward, 'and I have brought you some supper, for you had none, you
know, Signora, below stairs. Here are some grapes and figs and half a
cup of wine.' Emily thanked her, but expressed apprehension lest
this kindness should draw upon her the resentment of Dorina, when she
perceived the fruit was gone. 'Take it back, therefore, Maddelina,'
added Emily, 'I shall suffer much less from the want of it, than
I should do, if this act of good-nature was to subject you to your
mother's displeasure.'

'O Signora! there is no danger of that,' replied Maddelina, 'my mother
cannot miss the fruit, for I saved it from my own supper. You will make
me very unhappy, if you refuse to take it, Signora.' Emily was so
much affected by this instance of the good girl's generosity, that she
remained for some time unable to reply, and Maddelina watched her in
silence, till, mistaking the cause of her emotion, she said, 'Do not
weep so, Signora! My mother, to be sure, is a little cross, sometimes,
but then it is soon over,--so don't take it so much to heart. She often
scolds me, too, but then I have learned to bear it, and, when she has
done, if I can but steal out into the woods, and play upon my sticcado,
I forget it all directly.'

Emily, smiling through her tears, told Maddelina, that she was a good
girl, and then accepted her offering. She wished anxiously to know,
whether Bertrand and Dorina had spoken of Montoni, or of his designs,
concerning herself, in the presence of Maddelina, but disdained to tempt
the innocent girl to a conduct so mean, as that of betraying the private
conversations of her parents. When she was departing, Emily requested,
that she would come to her room as often as she dared, without offending
her mother, and Maddelina, after promising that she would do so, stole
softly back again to her own chamber.

Thus several days passed, during which Emily remained in her own room,
Maddelina attending her only at her repast, whose gentle countenance and
manners soothed her more than any circumstance she had known for many
months. Of her pleasant embowered chamber she now became fond, and
began to experien