will think of me; in the meantime, I am going to leave Rome, for since you and Lord Nelville are about to quit it, I should be too much bored in your absence.  I shall certainly see you both again, either in Scotland or Italy; for since I can do nothing better with myself, I have acquired a taste for travelling.  Forgive my having taken the liberty to counsel you, charming Corinne, and believe me ever devoted to you!”—­Corinne thanked him, and separated with a sentiment of regret.  Her acquaintance with him commenced at the same time as with Oswald, and this remembrance formed a tie between them which she did not like to see broken.  She conducted herself agreeably to what she had declared to the Count.  Some uneasiness disturbed for a moment the joy with which Lord Nelville had accepted the project of the journey.  He feared that their departure for Naples might injure Corinne, and wished to obtain her secret before they went, in order to know with certainty whether some invincible obstacle to their union might not exist; but she declared to him that she would not relate her history till they arrived at Naples, and sweetly deceived him, as to what the public opinion would be on her conduct.  Oswald yielded to the illusion.  In a weak and undecided character, love half deceives, reason half enlightens, and it is the present emotion that decides which of the two halves shall be the whole.  The mind of Lord Nelville was singularly expansive and penetrating; but he only formed a correct judgment of himself in reviewing his past conduct.  He never had but a confused idea of his present situation.  Susceptible at once of transport and remorse, of passion and timidity, those contrasts did not permit him to know himself till the event had decided the combat that was taking place within him.

When the friends of Corinne, particularly Prince Castel-Forte, were informed of her project, they felt considerably chagrined.  Prince Castel-Forte was so much pained at it, that he resolved in a short time to go and join her.  There was certainly no vanity in thus filling up the train of a favoured lover; but he could not support the dreadful void which he would find in the absence of Corinne.  He had no acquaintances but the circle he met at her house; and he never entered any other.  The company which assembled around her would disperse when she should be no longer there; and it would be impossible to collect together the fragments.  Prince Castel-Forte was little accustomed to domestic life:  though possessing a good share of intellect, he did not like the fatigue of study; the whole day therefore would have been an insufferable weight to him, if he had not come, morning and evening, to visit Corinne.  She was about to depart—­he knew not what to do; however he promised himself in secret to approach her as a friend, who indulged in no pretensions, but who was ever at hand to offer his consolation in the moment of misfortune; such a friend may be sure that his hour will come.