Volume I Part 53 (1/2)
I opened the parcel, but feeling that it contained hair, I hurriedly concealed it under the bed-clothes: at the same moment the blood rushed to htened ed for some water, she cahtened to see me so red, when they had seen ave lass of water in which she put some Eau des carmes which instantly acted as a violent emetic Two or threeto eat Madags, and while I was eating I told the history of Pandolfin M D---- R---- thought it was all awoman, love, affection, and repentance If M D---- R---- had not been present, it would have been the moment ofto wait M D---- R---- told Madame F---- that, if he had not seen me so sick, he would have believed my illness to be all sham, for he did not think it possible for anyone to rally so rapidly
”It is all owing toat me, ”and I will leave you h to take it with you, for the water would have no virtue without your presence”
”I am sure of that,” said M D---- R-----, ”so I will leave you here with your patient”
”No, no, he ht, but in my happy dreams I ith her, and the reality itself would hardly have procuredstride forward, for twenty-four hours of abstinence gave ift of her hair was an irrefutable confession of her own feelings
On the following day, after presenting myself before M F----, I went to have a little chat with the maid, to wait until her , and I had the pleasure of hearing her laugh when the iving hted she was to seeso well, and advised me to call upon M D---- R-----
It is not only in the eyes of a lover, but also in those of every man of taste, that a woman is a thousand times more lovely at the moment she comes out of the arms of Morpheus than when she has completed her toilet Around Mada than around the sun when he leaves the embrace of Aurora Yet the most beautiful woman thinks as much of her toilet as the one who cannot do without it--very likely because more huiven to me by Madame F---- to call on M D---- R-----, I saw another reason to be certain of approaching happiness, for I thought that, by dis me so quickly, she had only tried to postpone the consuht have pressed upon her, and which she could not have refused
Rich in the possession of her hair, I held a consultation with ht to do with it, for Madame F----, very likely in her wish to atone for the iven ht it over, I called upon a Jewish confectioner whose daughter was a skilful embroiderer, and I reen satin, the four initial letters of our names, and make a very thin chain with the remainder I had a piece of black ribbon added to one end of the chain, in the shape of a sliding noose, hich I could easily strangle myself if ever love should reduce me to despair, and I passed it round my neck As I did not want to lose even the smallest particle of so precious a treasure, I cut with a pair of scissors all the sether Then I reduced them into a fine powder, and ordered the Jewish confectioner to ar, vanilla, angelica, alkermes and storax, and I waited until the comfits prepared with that mixture were ready I had some more made with the same composition, but without any hair; I put the first in a beautiful sweetmeat box of fine crystal, and the second in a tortoise-shell box
Fro s of her heart, I no longer loststories or adventures; I only spoke to her of my cove, of my ardent desires; I told her that she must either banish me fro woman would not accept that alternative She answered that happiness could not be obtained by offending everyfrom our duties If I threw iveness for the loving violence I intended to use against her, she would repulse th of a female Hercules, for she would say, in a voice full of sweetness and affection,
”My friend, I do not entreat you to respect h to spare me for the sake of all the love I feel for you”
”What! you love me, and you refuse to make me happy! It is impossible!
it is unnatural You compel me to believe that you do not love me Only allow me to press my lips one moment upon your lips, and I ask no more”
”No, dearest, no; it would only excite the ardour of your desires, shake my resolution, and we should then find ourselves more e er brilliant in society, that I had lost that elasticity of spirits which had pleased her so much after my arrival froed war againstthinner and thinner every day Madareeable to her, because wicked tongues would not fail to say that she treated ht! On it I co tears in e your cruelty towardsall your heartless rigour, and yet you continue to enjoy it! You condemn me unhted to see uilty of a supposed but false kindness towards htest favours!”
”I do not , provided it is not true”
”What a contrast! Would it be possible forfor me? Such contradictions strikethinner yourself, and I a, you of consu decline; for I a the night, always, everywhere, except when I am in your presence”
At that passionate declaration, delivered with all the ardour of an excited lover, she was surprised, deeply ht that the happy hour had struck I folded her inthe first fruits of enjoymentThe sentinel knocked twice!
Oh! fatal mischance! I recovered my composure and stood in front of her
M D---- R---- made his appearance, and this time he found me in so cheerful a
My co to be the talk of our society M D---- R-----, Madame F----, and I were the only ones who had a box full of the any from me, because I had said that they were very expensive, and that in all Corfu there was no confectioner who could ave one out of my crystal box, and Madame F remarked it I certainly did not believe the that the addition of the hair made the of my love, caused me to cherish them, and it made me happy to think that a s a part of
Influenced perhaps by soly fond of the comfits She asserted before all her friends that they were the universal panacea, and knowing herself perfect mistress of the inventor, she did not enquire after the secret of the coave away only the comfits which I kept in my tortoise-shell box, and that I never eat any but those from the crystal box, she one day askedtime to think, I told her that in those I kept for redient which made the partaker love her