The prison of Montauban Author:Julia Smith Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: —Thus the young Albert became the adopted son of the Baron, and was from this period a very frequent inmate of hi mansion. I did not understand that the early... more » youth of this ward of the Baron afforded any striking indication of any thing very uncommon in mind or manners. He was considered as a very good lad, was of a steady disposition; attentive to his books, docile, and accoru- modable enough. The kind hearted Baron traced in his countenance the lineaments of his regretted friend, and transferred to the son, the warm affection he had borne the father. Strongly prepossessed in his favour, he thought every year added to the strength of his character, and the.' politeness of his chapter{Section 4Isabella had long, from these circumstances, been in the habit of looking upon Albert as a brother; yet I did not understand that even in that point of view any great sympathy or regard subsisted between them. She could not easily forget, I believe the very cool and harsh lecture which he gave her one day for crying most piteously, when the cat had caught her favourite bulfinch. '" Such childish petulance, (he said,) ought not to be endured ; and that her mother would do right to punish her for such folly." Nor do I think that Madame de Montford was particularly prepossesied in favour of our young man. I remember at a period somewhat subsequent to this, her rallying him with much humourone day, upon the cool calculation he had been making upon the sort of happiness he looked to enjoy in marriage, wherein a fixed and warm affection for the lady did not seem to constitute a material part, but rather the comfort of a well regulated house. It is true there are many prudent and cool considerations which may very well go hand in hand with the blind urchin; but we do not always expec...« less