Do not afflict me with this excess of
grief; rather teach me by your example to bear my own.' He stopped
again, and Emily, the more she endeavoured to restrain her emotion,
found it the less possible to do so.
St. Aubert, who now spoke with pain, resumed the subject. 'That
closet, my dear,--when you return home, go to it; and, beneath the
board I have described, you will find a packet of written papers.
Attend to me now, for the promise you have given particularly relates
to what I shall direct. These papers you must burn--and, solemnly I
command you, WITHOUT EXAMINING THEM.'
Emily's surprise, for a moment, overcame her grief, and she ventured
to ask, why this must be? St. Aubert replied, that, if it had been
right for him to explain his reasons, her late promise would have
been unnecessarily exacted. 'It is sufficient for you, my love, to
have a deep sense of the importance of observing me in this
instance.' St. Aubert proceeded. 'Under that board you will also
find about two hundred louis d'ors, wrapped in a silk purse; indeed,
it was to secure whatever money might be in the chateau, that this
secret place was contrived, at a time when the province was over-run
by troops of men, who took advantage of the tumults, and became
plunderers.
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