Volume I Part 37 (2/2)
”Then let us proceed to Constantinople If you are afraid to lose ht over thened by law I should not love you better than I do now, but I should be happy to be your wife”
”It is ree in that respect The day after to-al-wife before the altar of God; I swear it to you here in the presence of Love I want you to be mine, I want to be yours, I want us to be united by the most holy ties”
”I a to do in Riet up; we can have our dinner in bed, and go away to-ues”
We left Rimini the next day, and stayed for breakfast at Pesaro As ere getting into the carriage to leave that place, an officer, accompanied by two soldiers, presented himself, enquired for our naave it, but I looked in vain for mine; I could not find it
The officer, a corporal, orders the postillion to wait and goes to ives Bellino his passport, saying that he can continue his journey, but tellsofficer, and I follow him
”What have you done with your passport?” enquires that officer
”I have lost it”
”A passport is not so easily lost”
”Well, I have lost mine”
”You cannot proceed any further”
”I co a letter from Cardinal Acquaviva Here is the letter stamped with his seal”
”All I can do for you is to send you to M de Gages”
I found the fa, surrounded by his staff I told hied him to let rant you is to put you under arrest till you receive another passport froiven here To lose a passport is a iddy man, and the cardinal will for the future know better than to put his confidence in a giddy fellow like you”
With these words, he gave orders to take uard-house at St
Mary's Gate, outside the city, as soon as I should have written to the cardinal for a new passport His orders were executed I was brought back to the inn, where I wrote my letter, and I sent it by express to his e him to forward the document, without loss of time, direct to the war office Then I eo to Rimini and to wait there for my return, I made her take one hundred sequins She wished to remain in Pesaro, but I would not hear of it; I had o away froeneral
It is undoubtedly under such circumstances that the most determined optimist finds himself at a loss; but an easy stoicisreatest sorroas the heart-grief of Therese who, seeing me torn from her arms at the very moment of our union, was suffocated by the tears which she tried to repress She would not have left me if I had not made her understand that she could not remain in Pesaro, and if I had not proain
But fate had decided otherwise
When we reached the gate, the officer confined uard-house, and I sat down on my trunk The officer was a taciturn Spaniard who did not even condescend to honour me with an anshen I told him that I had money and would like to have soht on a little straw, and without food, in the ht of the sort that htful nights My good angel doubtless found so such conjunctions before my mind for the benefit of s of that description have an infallible effect upon natures of a peculiar staician calling hirief overbalances pleasure, ask him whether he would accept a life entirely without sorrow and happiness Be certain that he will not answer you, or he will shuffle, because, if he says no, he proves that he likes life such as it is, and if he likes it, he reeable, which is an utter impossibility, if life is painful; should he, on the contrary, answer in the affirmative, he would declare himself a fool, for it would be asfro is inherent in hu the hope of recovery, or, at least, very seldom without such hope, and hope itself is a pleasure If it happens sometimes that man suffers without any expectation of a cure, he necessarily finds pleasure in the complete certainty of the end of his life; for the worst, in all cases,which we have the consolation of happy dreams or the loss of all sensitiveness But e are happy, our happiness is never disturbed by the thought that it will be followed by grief Therefore pleasure, during its active period, is always corief is always soothed by hope
I suppose you, dear reader, at the age of twenty, and devoting yourself to the task ofyour e necessary to render you a useful being through the activity of your brain So you thirty years of existence; it is the immutable decree of fate; fifteen consecutive years must be happy, and fifteen years unhappy You are at liberty to choose the half by which you wish to begin”
Confess it candidly, dear reader, you will not require in by the unhappy series of years, because you will feel that the expectation of fifteen delightful years cannot fail to brace you up with the courage necessary to bear the unfortunate years you have to go through, and we can even surht, that the certainty of future happiness will soothe to a considerable extent the uessed, I have no doubt, the purpose of this lengthy arguacious man, believe ree with my friend Horace, who says that, on the contrary, such a man is always happy
'Nisi quum pituita molesta est'