could be addressed, she was compelled to rest in uncertainty; an
uncertainty which would have been more painful to an idle mind than
it was to hers. She had no leisure to suffer this circumstance,
trifling at first, to swell into importance by frequent remembrance.
The little vanity it had excited (for the incertitude which forbade
her to presume upon having inspired the sonnet, forbade her also to
disbelieve it) passed away, and the incident was dismissed from her
thoughts amid her books, her studies, and the exercise of social
charities.

Soon after this period, her anxiety was awakened by the indisposition
of her father, who was attacked with a fever; which, though not
thought to be of a dangerous kind, gave a severe shock to his
constitution. Madame St. Aubert and Emily attended him with
unremitting care; but his recovery was very slow, and, as he advanced
towards health, Madame seemed to decline.

The first scene he visited, after he was well enough to take the air,
was his favourite fishing-house. A basket of provisions was sent
thither, with books, and Emily's lute; for fishing-tackle he had no
use, for he never could find amusement in torturing or destroying.

After employing himself, for about an hour, in botanizing, dinner was
served. It was a repast, to which gratitude, for being again
permitted to visit this spot, gave sweetness; and family happiness
once more smiled beneath these shades. Monsieur St. Aubert conversed
with unusual cheerfulness; every object delighted his senses. The
refreshing pleasure from the first view of nature, after the pain of
illness, and the confinement of a sick-chamber, is above the
conceptions, as well as the descriptions, of those in health. The