Deterville's melancholy, as well as that of his sister, my dear Aza, has increased, since the day we visited my enchanted palace. They are both so very dear to me, that I could not help being earnest with them to intrust me with the cause; but as they evaded the subject, I was fearful that some new misfortune had retarded your journey. The uneasiness of my mind, which I did not at all dissemble, was too strong for the resolution of my amiable friends.

Deterville owned that he did not design to let me know the day when he expected you, in order to give me an agreeable surprise; but my uneasiness made him determine to tell me: He therefore shewed me a letter from the guide who was ordered to conduct you; and, calculating the time when, and the place from whence it was written, he assured me that you might be here to-morrow, today; in short, that I might expect you every moment, and had no more hours to reckon to that which is to crown my wishes.

After having told me this, Deterville let me know how he had ordered every thing else. He shewed me the apartment which he designed for your use; for you are to lodge here till the time of our being united, as decency will not suffer us to live together in my delightful castle till that ceremony is past. I will never lose sight of you any more; nothing on earth shall separate us: Deterville has ordered every thing, and by every action daily shews me more and more the boundless excess of his generosity.

After his having told me all these things, I was no longer at a loss for the cause of that sorrow which consumes him. It is the thoughts of your approaching arrival: I pity him, I sincerely commiserate his passion, and wish him an happiness independent of me, such as may be a reward worthy of his merit.