week passed away, and each, as it passed, stole something from the
harshness of her affliction, till it was mellowed to that tenderness
which the feeling heart cherishes as sacred. St. Aubert, on the
contrary, visibly declined in health; though Emily, who had been so
constantly with him, was almost the last person who observed it. His
constitution had never recovered from the late attack of the fever,
and the succeeding shock it received from Madame St. Aubert's death
had produced its present infirmity. His physician now ordered him to
travel; for it was perceptible that sorrow had seized upon his
nerves, weakened as they had been by the preceding illness; and
variety of scene, it was probable, would, by amusing his mind,
restore them to their proper tone.

For some days Emily was occupied in preparations to attend him; and
he, by endeavours to diminish his expences at home during the
journey--a purpose which determined him at length to dismiss his
domestics. Emily seldom opposed her father's wishes by questions or
remonstrances, or she would now have asked why he did not take a
servant, and have represented that his infirm health made one almost
necessary. But when, on the eve of their departure, she found that
he had dismissed Jacques, Francis, and Mary, and detained only
Theresa the old housekeeper, she was extremely surprised, and
ventured to ask his reason for having done so. 'To save expences, my
dear,' he replied--'we are going on an expensive excursion.'

The physician had prescribed the air of Languedoc and Provence; and
St. Aubert determined, therefore, to travel leisurely along the
shores of the Mediterranean, towards Provence.

They retired early to their chamber on the night before their