'Let me
return,' said he, 'to a subject, which is very near my heart. I said
I had a solemn promise to receive from you; let me receive it now,
before I explain the chief circumstance which it concerns; there are
others, of which your peace requires that you should rest in
ignorance. Promise, then, that you will perform exactly what I shall
enjoin.'
Emily, awed by the earnest solemnity of his manner, dried her tears,
that had begun again to flow, in spite of her efforts to suppress
them; and, looking eloquently at St. Aubert, bound herself to do
whatever he should require by a vow, at which she shuddered, yet knew
not why.
He proceeded: 'I know you too well, my Emily, to believe, that you
would break any promise, much less one thus solemnly given; your
assurance gives me peace, and the observance of it is of the utmost
importance to your tranquillity. Hear, then, what I am going to tell
you. The closet, which adjoins my chamber at La Vallee, has a
sliding board in the floor. You will know it by a remarkable knot in
the wood, and by its being the next board, except one, to the
wainscot, which fronts the door.
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