Letitia Elizabeth Landon

The prodigal heir can only waste his own substance, and the punishment falls, as it should, upon himself; but the prince has an awful responsibility,—the welfare of others is required at his hands; his faults and his follies take a wide range, and not with him does their suffering end. The Duchesse's boudoir was fitted up in a style of luxury utterly different from anything before familiar to the Carraras. One day he came not: I was told, and truly, that business the most imperative required his personal attendance; yet I could not force the ghastly terror of his illness from my mind. I dared not tempt my fate by content—the agony which I suffered seemed a sort of expiation. Francesca was soon disencumbered of her riding-hood and cloak; and the three young people, left together, became rapidly acquainted.