repose: shall we not leave him to his rest?" Saying this, and
taking Manfred by the hand, she took leave of Frederic, and led the
company forth.

The Prince, not sorry to quit a conversation which recalled to mind
the discovery he had made of his most secret sensations, suffered
himself to be conducted to his own apartment, after permitting
Theodore, though under engagement to return to the castle on the
morrow (a condition the young man gladly accepted), to retire with
his father to the convent. Matilda and Isabella were too much
occupied with their own reflections, and too little content with
each other, to wish for farther converse that night. They
separated each to her chamber, with more expressions of ceremony
and fewer of affection thou had passed between them since their
childhood.

If they parted with small cordiality, they did but meet with
greater impatience, as soon as the sun was risen. Their minds were
in a situation that excluded sleep, and each recollected a thousand
questions which she wished she had put to the other overnight.
Matilda reflected that Isabella had been twice delivered by
Theodore in very critical situations, which she could not believe
accidental. His eyes, it was true, had been fixed on her in
Frederic's chamber; but that might have been to disguise his
passion for Isabella from the fathers of both. It were better to
clear this up. She wished to know the truth, lest she should wrong
her friend by entertaining a passion for Isabella's lover. Thus
jealousy prompted, and at the same time borrowed an excuse from
friendship to justify its curiosity.