The Mysteries of Udolpho

Madame Quesnel, meanwhile, was expressing to Madame St. Aubert her

astonishment, that she could bear to pass her life in this remote corner

of the world, as she called it, and describing, from a wish, probably,

of exciting envy, the splendour of the balls, banquets, and processions

which had just been given by the court, in honour of the nuptials of the

Duke de Joyeuse with Margaretta of Lorrain, the sister of the Queen. She

described with equal minuteness the magnificence she had seen, and that

from which she had been excluded; while Emily's vivid fancy, as she

listened with the ardent curiosity of youth, heightened the scenes she

heard of; and Madame St. Aubert, looking on her family, felt, as a tear

stole to her eye, that though splendour may grace happiness, virtue only

can bestow it. 'It is now twelve years, St. Aubert,' said M. Quesnel, 'since I

purchased your family estate.'--'Somewhere thereabout,' replied St.

Aubert, suppressing a sigh. 'It is near five years since I have been

there,' resumed Quesnel; 'for Paris and its neighbourhood is the only

place in the world to live in, and I am so immersed in politics, and

have so many affairs of moment on my hands, that I find it difficult

to steal away even for a month or two.' St. Aubert remaining silent, M.

Quesnel proceeded: 'I have sometimes wondered how you, who have lived

in the capital, and have been accustomed to company, can exist

elsewhere;--especially in so remote a country as this, where you can

neither hear nor see any thing, and can in short be scarcely conscious

of life.' 'I live for my family and myself,' said St. Aubert; 'I am now contented

to know only happiness;--formerly I knew life.'

'I mean to expend thirty or forty thousand livres on improvements,' said

M. Quesnel, without seeming to notice the words of St. Aubert; 'for I

design, next summer, to bring here my friends, the Duke de Durefort and

the Marquis Ramont, to pass a month or two with me.' To St. Aubert's

enquiry, as to these intended improvements, he replied, that he should

take down the whole east wing of the chateau, and raise upon the site

a set of stables. 'Then I shall build,' said he, 'a SALLE A MANGER, a

SALON, a SALLE AU COMMUNE, and a number of rooms for servants; for at

present there is not accommodation for a third part of my own people.'

'It accommodated our father's household,' said St. Aubert, grieved that

the old mansion was to be thus improved, 'and that was not a small one.' 'Our notions are somewhat enlarged since those days,' said M.

Quesnel;--'what was then thought a decent style of living would not now

be endured.' Even the calm St. Aubert blushed at these words, but

his anger soon yielded to contempt. 'The ground about the chateau is

encumbered with trees; I mean to cut some of them down.'