sengaged, whenever she received an invitation from
Madame Clairval, of whom she talked, wherever she went, and derived much
self-consequence from impressing a belief on her general acquaintance,
that they were on the most familiar footing.

The entertainments of this evening consisted of a ball and supper; it
was a fancy ball, and the company danced in groups in the gardens,
which were very extensive. The high and luxuriant trees, under which the
groups assembled, were illuminated with a profusion of lamps, disposed
with taste and fancy. The gay and various dresses of the company, some
of whom were seated on the turf, conversing at their ease, observing
the cotillons, taking refreshments, and sometimes touching sportively a
guitar; the gallant manners of the gentlemen, the exquisitely capricious
air of the ladies; the light fantastic steps of their dances; the
musicians, with the lute, the hautboy, and the tabor, seated at the foot
of an elm, and the sylvan scenery of woods around were circumstances,
that unitedly formed a characteristic and striking picture of French
festivity. Emily surveyed the gaiety of the scene with a melancholy kind
of pleasure, and her emotion may be imagined when, as she stood with her
aunt, looking at one of the groups, she perceived Valancourt; saw him
dancing with a young and beautiful lady, saw him conversing with her
with a mixture of attention and familiarity, such as she had seldom
observed in his manner. She turned hastily from the scene, and attempted
to draw away Madame Cheron, who was conversing with Signor Cavigni,
and neither perceived Valancourt, or was willing to be interrupted. A
faintness suddenly came over Emily, and, unable to support herself, she
sat down on a turf bank beneath the trees, where several other persons
were seated. One of these, observing the extreme paleness of her
countenance, enquired if she was ill, and begged she would allow him to
fetch her a glass of water, for which politeness she thanked him, but
did not accept it. Her apprehension lest Valancourt should observe her
emotion made her anxious to overcome it, and she succeeded so far as
to re-compose her countenance. Madame Cheron was still conversing with
Cavigni; and the Count Bauvillers, who had addressed Emily, made some
observations upon the scene, to which she answered almost unconsciously,
for her mind was still occupied with the idea of Valancourt, to whom
it was with extreme uneasiness that she re