So at last
I abandoned the hope of finding my long-lost daughter, though it was a
bitter trial to feel that I must do so. The princess, my wife, had
died three years after our marriage, leaving me only one
child--Vallombreuse--whose ungovernable disposition has always given me
much trouble and anxiety. A few days ago, at Saint Germain, I heard some
of the courtiers speak in terms of high praise of Herode's troupe,
and what they said made me determine to go and see one of their
representations without delay, while my heart beat high with a new
hope--for they especially lauded a young actress, called Isabelle; whose
graceful, modest, high-bred air they declared to be irresistible, and
her acting everything that could be desired--adding that she was as
virtuous as she was beautiful, and that the boldest libertines respected
her immaculate purity. Deeply agitated by a secret presentiment, I
hastened back to Paris, and went to the theatre that very night. There I
saw you, my darling, and though it would seem to be impossible for even
a father's eye to recognise, in the beautiful young woman of twenty, the
babe that he had kissed in its cradle, and had never beheld since,
still I knew you instantly--the very moment you came in sight--and I
perceived, with a heart swelling with happiness and thankfulness, that
you were all that I could wish.
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