Volume II Part 41 (2/2)
You may be the cause of my death, you will certainly make me miserable for the remainder of my life, if you do not justify yourself; on my side I think the justification is complete
”I hope that, even if you feel no interest in my life, you will think that you are bound in honour to come and speak to me Come yourself to recall all you have written; it is your duty, and I deserve it If you do not realize the fatal effect produced upon me by your letter, I must indeed pity you, in spite of htest knowledge of the human heart But I feel certain that you will come back, provided the man to whom I trust this letter contrives to find you Adieu! I expect life or death from you”
I did not require to read that letter twice; I was ashaht I called the Forlanese, enquired fro, and whether she looked ill He answered that he had found her looking more unhappy every day, and that her eyes were red froain and wait,” I said to hi screed before the dawn of day; here are, word by word, the contents of the letter which I wrote to the noblest of woly
”I plead guilty, madam; I cannot possibly justify myself, and I am perfectly convinced of your innocence I should be disconsolate if I did not hope to obtain pardon, and you will not refuse to forgive uilt I saw you; I was dazzled, and I could not realize a happiness which seeht htful illusions which vanish ake up The doubt under which I was labouring could not be cleared up for twenty-four hours, and how could I expressfor that happywith desire and hope, was flying towards you while I was in the parlour counting the minutes! Yet an hour passed al my i you But then, precisely at the very aze upon the beloved features which had been in one interview indelibly engraved upon reeable face appear, and a creature announced that you were engaged for the whole day, and without giving inewould not have produced upon me a more rapid, a more terrible effect! If you had sent me a line by that sister--a line froone away, if not pleased, at least subned
”But that was a fourth fatality which you have forgotten to add to your delightful and witty justification Thinking nation for the ht that everybody could read on my face all the horror in my heart, and I saw in you, under the outward appearance of an angel, nothing but a fearful daughter of the Prince of Darkness My hly upset, and at the end of eleven days I lost the sood sense that was left in me--at least I must suppose so, as it is then that I wrote to you the letter of which you have so good a right to complain, and which at that time seemed to me a masterpiece of moderation
”But I hope it is all over now, and this very day at eleven o'clock you will see me at your feet--tender, subive e you for the insult I have hurled at you The only thing which I dare to ask froreat favour is to burn ain
I sent it only after I had written four, which I destroyed one after the other: you iven orders to o to your convent at once, so that my letter can be delivered to you as soon as you wake in the el had not o up to him at the door of the opera-house But I shall not require his services any more; do not answer me, and receive all the devotion of a heart which adores you”
When ave hio to Muran immediately, and to deliver one I threwimpatience would not allow me to sleep
I need not tell the reader who knows the state of excite, that I was punctual in presenting myself at the convent I was shewn into the small parlour where I had seen her for the first time, and she almost irating I fell on ht be seen Her face was flushed with excitement, and her looks seemed to me heavenly She sat down, and I took a seat opposite to her We re at each other without speaking, but I broke the silence by asking her, in a voice full of love and anxiety, whether I could hope to obtain , and I covered it with tears and kisses
”Our acquaintance,” she said, ”has begun with a violent stor in perfect and lasting calm This is the first time that we speak to one another, but what has occurred e of each other I trust that our intimacy will be as tender as sincere, and that we shall kno to have a el as you have any?”
”Ah, my friend! who is without the you of my devotion with complete freedom and in all the joy of ether at ive o and sup with you in Venice, if it will not disturb your arrangements”
”It would only increase ht to tell you that I a expense, I delight in it: all I possess belongs to the woman I love”
”That confidence, reeable to me, the more so that I have likewise to tell you that I a to my lover”
”But you h him that I am rich, and he is entirelyfrom him The day after to-morrohen I am alone with you, I will tell you more”
”But I hope that your lover”
”Will not be there? Certainly not Have you a mistress?”
”I had one, but, alas! she has been taken from me by violent means, and for the last six months I have led a life of complete celibacy”
”Do you love her still?”
”I cannot think of her without loving her She has alreat beauty, as you have; but I foresee that you will et her”
”If your happiness with her was complete, I pity you She has been violently taken from you, and you shun society in order to feed your sorrow I have guessed right, have I not? But if I happen to take possession of her place in your heart, no one, my sweet friend, shall turn me out of it”