of
grandeur, I will attend you as your slave. Happy only in your happiness,
you will find me in those palaces where I shall see you cherished and
adored, at least sufficiently noble to make for you the greatest of all
sacrifices, by dying at your feet.'

"The violence of his emotion stifled his voice, and we then heard that of
Virginia, which, broken by sobs, uttered these words: 'It is for you I go:
for you, whom I see every day bent beneath the labour of sustaining two
infirm families. If I have accepted this opportunity of becoming rich, it
is only to return you a thousandfold the good which you have done us. Is
there any fortune worthy of your friendship? Why do you talk to me of your
birth? Ah! if it were again possible to give me a brother, should I make
choice of any other than you? Oh, Paul! Paul! you are far dearer to me than
a brother! How much has it cost me to avoid you! Help me to tear myself
from what I value more than existence, till Heaven can bless our union. But
I will stay or go: I will live or die; dispose of me as you will. Unhappy,
that I am! I could resist your caresses, but I am unable to support your
affliction.'

"At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed fast
to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, 'I will go with her; nothing shall
divide us.' We ran towards him, and Madame de la Tour said to him, 'My son,
if you go, what will become of us?'

"He, trembling, repeated the words, 'My son:--My son'--You my mother,'
cried he; 'you, who would separate the brother from the sister! We have
both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been reared upon your
knees; we have learnt of you to love each other; we have said so a thousand
times; and now you would separate her from me! You send her to Europe, that
barbarous country which refused you an asylum, and to relations by whom you
were abandoned. You will tell me that I have no right over her, and that
she is not my sister. She is everything to me, riches, birth, family, my
sole good; I know no other. We have had but one roof, one cradle, and we
will have but one grave. If she goes, I will follow her. The governor will
prevent me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea? Will he
prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal to
me than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will die before
her eyes; far from you, inhuman mother! woman without compassion! May the
ocean,