distressed by the situation of her son, took him aside, and said to him,
'Why, my dear son, will you cherish vain hopes, which will only render your
disappointment more bitter! It is time that I should make known to you the
secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de la Tour belongs, by her
mother, to a rich and noble family, while you are but the son of a poor
peasant girl; and, what is worse, you are a natural child.'

"Paul, who had never before heard this last expression, inquired with
eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, 'You had no legitimate father.
When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness of which you
are the offspring. My fault deprived you of the protection of a father's
family, and my flight from home, of that of a mother's family. Unfortunate
child! you have no relation in the world but me!' And she shed a flood of
tears. Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, 'Oh, my dear mother!
since I have no relation in the world but you, I will love you still more!
But what a secret have you disclosed to me! I now see the reason why
Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself from me for two months past,
and why she has determined to go. Ah! I perceive too well that she despises
me!'

"'The hour of supper being arrived, we placed ourselves at table; but the
different sensations with which we were all agitated left us little
inclination to eat, and the meal passed in silence. Virginia first went
out, and seated herself on the very spot where we now are placed. Paul
hastened after her, and seated himself by her side. It was one of those
delicious nights which are so common between the tropics, and the beauty of
which no pencil can trace. The moon appeared in the midst of the firmament,
curtained in clouds which her beams gradually dispelled. Her light
insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island, and their peaks
glistened with a silvered green. The winds were perfectly still. We heard