Volume I Part 10 (1/2)
These words, so true, so artless, so innocent, made me realize the immense superiority of nature's eloquence over that of philosophical intellect For the first ti, ”Yes, dearest Lucie, yes, thou hast it in thy power to afford the sweetest relief topain; abandon to my ardent kisses thy divine lips which have just assured htful silence, which nothing interrupted except these words murmured now and then by Lucie, ”Oh, God! is it true?
is it not a dream?” Yet I respected her innocence, and the more readily that she abandoned herself entirely and without the slightest resistance At last, extricating herself gently froins to speak, I ed her dress she sat down, and her ood looks and ht countenance, and told Lucie to dress herself to attend mass Lucie came back an hour later, and expressed her joy and her pride at the wonderful cure she thought she had perfor convinced her of my love much better than the pitiful state in which she had found
”If your complete happiness,” she said, ”rests inthat I can refuse you”
Thebetween happiness and fear, I understood that I was standing on the very brink of the abyss, and that nothing but aheadlong into it
I remained at Pasean until the end of Septehts of my stay were passed in the undisturbed possession of Lucie, who, secure in her mother's profound sleep, came to my roo ardour of my love was increased by the abstinence to which I conde in her power to h my determination
She could not fully enjoy the sweetness of the forbidden fruit unless I plucked it without reserve, and the effect produced by our constantly lying in each other's arirl to resist
She tried everything she could to deceive me, and to athered the whole flower, but Bettina's lessons had been too efficient to allowscent, and I reached the end ofentirely to the temptation she so fondly threw in ; our fareas tender and very sad, and I left her in a state of mind and of body which must have been the cause of her misfortunes, which, twenty years after, I had occasion to reproach myself with in Holland, and which will ever remain upon my conscience
A few days after my return to Venice, I had fallen back into all ela in the hope that I would obtain froranted to er trace in ht have a blighting influence uponmyself up to complete enjoyment I do not knohether I have ever been a truly honest s I fostered in ht than those I have, as I lived on, forced myself to accept A wicked philosophy thron too many of these barriers which we call prejudices
The two sisters ere sharing Angela's embroidery lessons were her intimate friends and the confidantes of all her secrets I made their acquaintance, and found that they disapproved of her extreela and knew their intimacy with her, I would, when I happened toonly of h to propose that these young girls ht fall in love withinspiration which was burning in me--a liberty I would not have dared to take in the presence of her whoets reserve; we fear to be accused of exaggeration if we should give utterance to feelings inspired, by passion, and thetoo much, very often says too little
The teacher of eot, who at first appeared not to ot tired at last of my too frequent visits, and mentioned them to the abbe, the uncle of ht not to call at that house so often, as ly construed, and prove detrimental to the reputation of his niece His words fell upon s sufficiently to leave hi any suspicion, and I proood advice
Three or four days afterwards, I paid a visit to the teacher of embroidery, and, to make her believe that my visit was only intended for her, I did not stop one instant near the young girls; yet I contrived to slip in the hand of the eldest of the two sisters a note enclosing another for ela, in which I explained why I had been co her to devise so her and of conversing with her In ive ain the day after the morrow, and that I trusted to her to find an opportunity for delivering ed it all very cleverly, and, when I renewed avethe attention of anyone Nanette's letter enclosed a very short note fro, merely advised me to follow, if I could, the plan proposed by her friend Here is the copy of the letter written by Nanette, which I have always kept, as well as all other letters which I give in these Me in the world, reverend sir, that I would not readily do for my friend She visits at our house every holiday, has supper with us, and sleeps under our roof I will suggest the best way for you to make the acquaintance of Madame Orio, our aunt; but, if you obtain an introduction to her, you must be very careful not to let her suspect your preference for Angela, for our aunt would certainly object to her house being made a place of rendezvous to facilitate your intervieith a stranger to her family Now for the plan I propose, and in the execution of which I will give you every assistance in ood station in life, is not wealthy, and she wishes to have her name entered on the list of noble ho receive the bounties bestowed by the Confraternity of the Holy Sacraela races of that noblee would be to ask you to entreat it in her behalf
The foolish girl added that you were smitten with me, that all your visits to our mistress of embroidery wereme, and that I would find it a very easy task to interest you in her favour My aunt answered that, as you are a priest, there was no fear of any harm, and she told me to write to you with an invitation to call on her; I refused The procurator Rosa, who is a great favourite ofthat the letter ought to be written by her and not bythe honour of your visit on business of real importance, and that, if there was any truth in the report of your love for me, you would not fail to come My aunt, by his advice, has therefore written the letter which you will find at your house If you wish to ela, postpone your visit to us until next Sunday
Should you succeed in obtaining M de Malipiero's good will in favour of my aunt, you will becoive me if I appear to treat you with coolness, for I have said that I do not like you I would advise you to e; M Rosa will not be jealous, and you will becoe for you an opportunity for so to convince you of my friendshi+p Adieu”
This plan appeared toreceived Mada day, Sunday I elco me to exert in her behalf my influence with M de Malipiero, entrusted ht require to succeed I undertook to do ela, but I directed all allant attentions to Nanette, who treated me as coolly as could be Finally, I won the friendshi+p of the old procurator Rosa, who, in after years, was of some service to me
I had so much at stake in the success of Mada else, and knowing all the power of the beautiful Therese Imer over our amorous senator, ould be but too happy to please her in anything, I deterht to her roo announced I found her alone with the physician Doro, who, feigning to be on a professional visit, wrote a prescription, felt her pulse, and went off This Doro was suspected of being in love with Therese; M de Malipiero, as jealous, had forbidden Therese to receive his visits, and she had promised to obey him She knew that I was acquainted with those circumstances, and my presence was evidently unpleasant to her, for she had certainly no wish that the old ht that no better opportunity could be found of obtaining fro I wished
I told her in a feords the object of my visit, and I took care to add that she could rely upon my discretion, and that I would not for the world do her any injury Therese, grateful for this assurance, answered that she rejoiced at finding an occasion to oblige e, she shewed me the certificates and testimonials of another lady in favour of whom she had undertaken to speak, and whom, she said, she would sacrifice to the person in whose behalf I felt interested She kept her word, for the very next day she placed in ned by his excellency as president of the confraternity For the present, and with the expectation of further favours, Madame Orio's name was put down to share the bounties which were distributed twice a year
Nanette and her sister Marton were the orphan daughters of a sister of Madaood lady consisted in the house which was her dwelling, the first floor being let, and in a pension given to her by her brother, member of the council of ten She lived alone with her two charest fifteen years of age She kept no servant, and only employed an old woman, who, for one crown a h work Her only friend was the procurator Rosa; he had, like her, reached his sixtieth year, and expected to marry her as soon as he should becoether on the third floor in a large bed, which was likewise shared by Angela every Sunday
As soon as I found myself in possession of the deed for Madame Orio, I hastened to pay a visit to the mistress of e Nanette with my success, and in a short note which I prepared, I inforive the brevet to Madaet her proela
When I arrived, on the appointed day, at Mada, dexterously conveyed tothe house I found Madaela, the old procurator, and Marton in the roo to read the note, I refused the seat offered todesired, I asked, asher to understand that I wanted to leave the room immediately
”Oh, my dear abbe!” said the lady, ”you shall have a kiss, but not on my hand, and no one can object to it, as I aht have said forty-five without going ave her two kisses, which evidently satisfied her, for she desired me to perform the saela alone stood the brunt of my hardihood After this theasked ?”