LORD BYRON.

Madame de la Tour at length proceeded:—­“I have already told you, Lucie, that De Courcy viewed, with uneasiness, the homage which was paid your mother, though it did not exceed the usual devotion which Parisian gallantry is wont to offer at the shrine of female loveliness.  He must have expected it; for no one could have been more conscious of her beauty, or more proud of possessing it.  But he persuaded himself, that this adulation was too grateful to her; his affection was selfish and engrossing, and he wished her to receive pleasure from no praises or attentions but his own.  She was, perhaps, as free from vanity as any woman could be, young, beautiful, and admired as herself; and if not indifferent to the admiration which her charms excited, it was but the natural and transient delight of a gay and innocent mind; her heart was ever loyal to her husband, and his society, his fond and approving smile, were far more prized by her, than the idle homage of a world.

“The young Count de ——­ was an object of particular dislike and unceasing suspicion to De Courcy.  They were distantly related; but some slight disagreement, which had taken place at an earlier period, created a coolness between them, which was never overcome.  Your mother was aware of this, and, had she more closely consulted her prudence, would, probably, have avoided the attentions of one so obnoxious to her husband’s prejudices.  But the Count was gay and agreeable, the versatility of his talents amused her, and he seemed to possess many amiable and brilliant qualities.  His manners were courteous; his attentions never presuming; and there was a frankness in his address, which formed an agreeable contrast to the studied flattery of others around her.  Yet even the most distant civilities excited your father’s distrust; the Count became, every day, an object of more decided and marked aversion, and your mother could not but feel herself tacitly implicated in his displeasure.  Grieved that he could doubt her affection, or the rectitude of her heart, and relying confidently on the purity of both, she resolved not to wound the Count’s feelings, by yielding to an ungenerous prejudice, and her conduct and manners therefore continued unchanged.

“As spring advanced, your mother withdrew, almost entirely, from society; but the Count de ——­, among a few others, was a privileged and frequent visitor at her house.  One morning, De Courcy, contrary to his usual custom, had urged her to accompany him on some short excursion; and, equally surprised and gratified by the unexpected request, it was with extreme reluctance that she felt compelled, from indisposition, to decline it.  Soon after his departure, however, I persuaded her to leave her apartment, for a few moments, to look at some choice exotics, which had just been brought to the house.  She was still lingering to admire them, when the Count de ——­ was announced, through the negligence of a servant,