, at circumstances, on which, had he been only a spectator
of the scene, he would have smiled.

'Till I receive Mademoiselle St. Aubert's permission to accept your
indulgence,' said he, falteringly--'till she allows me to hope--'

'O! is that all?' interrupted Madame Cheron. 'Well, I will take upon me
to answer for her. But at the same time, sir, give me leave to observe
to you, that I am her guardian, and that I expect, in every instance,
that my will is hers.'

As she said this, she rose and quitted the room, leaving Emily and
Valancourt in a state of mutual embarrassment; and, when Valancourt's
hopes enabled him to overcome his fears, and to address her with the
zeal and sincerity so natural to him, it was a considerable time
before she was sufficiently recovered to hear with distinctness his
solicitations and inquiries.

The conduct of Madame Cheron in this affair had been entirely governed
by selfish vanity. Valancourt, in his first interview, had with great
candour laid open to her the true state of his present circumstances,
and his future expectancies, and she, with more prudence than humanity,
had absolutely and abruptly rejected his suit. She wished her niece to
marry ambitiously, not because she desired to see her in possession of
the happiness, which rank and wealth are usually believed to bestow, but
because she desired to partake the importance, which such an alliance
would give. When, therefore, she discovered that Valancourt was the
nephew of a person of so much consequence as Madame Clairval, she became
anxious for the connection, since the prospect it afforded of future
fortune and distinction for Emily, promised the exaltation she coveted
for herself. Her calculations concerning fortune in this alliance were
guided rather by her wishes, than by any hint of Valancourt, or strong
appearance of probability; and, when she rested her expectation on the
wealth of Madame Clairval, she seemed totally to have forgotten, that
the latter had a daughter. Valancourt, however, had not forgotten this
circumstance, and the consideration of it had made him so modest in
his expectations from Madame Clairval, that he had not even named the
relationship in his first conversation with Madame Cheron. But, whatever
might be the future fortune of Emily, the present distinction, which the
connection would afford for herself, was certain, since the splendour of
Madame Clairval's establishment was such as to excite the gener