Volume III Part 71 (2/2)
”I despise them; and if you were to offer me such a sum, I should only accept it to lay it at your feet You are certainly not destined to become miserable, but if that should come to pass, be sure that I should be only too happy to share your misery”
We fell into one another's arms, and love made us taste all its pleasures Nevertheless, in the ained upon our souls Languishi+ng love seeth, but it is only in appearance; sadness exhausts love more than enjoyhter and mirth, otherwise he dies of inanition
Next day my sweetheart wrote to Lebel in the sense she had decided on, and I felt obliged to write M de Chavigni a letter in which love, sentiled I did not conceal from him that I loved the woman whom Lebel coveted to distraction, but I said that as a man of honour I would rather die than deprive hted the housekeeper, for she was anxious to knohat the aht of the affair, which needed ot on the same day the letters of introduction I had asked Madaive me, and I determined, to the joy of my dear Dubois, to set out for Lausanne But we must hark back a little
When one is sincerely in love, one thinks the beloved object full of deserts, and the s, thinks all the world jealous of its bliss
A M de F----, member of the Council of the Two Hundred, whom I had met at Madame de la Saone's, had become my friend He came to see me and I introduced him to my dear Dubois, whom he treated with the same distinction he would have used towards my wife He had presented us to his wife, and had cohter Sara Sara was only thirteen, but she was extremely precocious, dark co naivetes, of which she understood the whole force, although looking at her face one would have thought her perfectly innocent She excelled in the art ofher father and mother believe in her innocence, and thus she enjoyed plenty of liberty
Sara had declared that she was in love with hed at her she lavished her caresses on my dear Dubois She often came to breakfast with us, and when she found us in bed she would e her hand over the coverlet to tickle her, telling her that she was her wife, and that she wanted to have a child My sweetheart laughed and let her go on
One day I told her jokingly that she would ht she really was atoa uide mine than to oppose it That made me curious, andthat she had taken ot exactly what she wanted, I drew back my hand, and iht However, as the little girl had no part inany farther
Two or three days after, this girl ca up, and said in her usual simple way,
”Now that you know I am not really ayour place beside my little wife, if she will let h, said,
”Co of an eye she was undressed and in the arms of her little wife, whom she proceeded to treat as an a contrived in the combat to rid herself of her chemise and the coverlet, displayed herself to me without any veil, while at the same tiht inflamed me I shut the door, and made the little hussy witness of my ardour withthe part of astonishment to perfection, and when I had finished she said, with the utain:”
”I can't, my dear; don't you see I am a dead man?”
”That's very funny,” she cried; and with the most perfect innocence she came over, and tried to effecto in;” and I should doubtless have obeyed, but my housekeeper said, ”No, dearest, since you have effected its resurrection, you ain”
”I should like to,” said she, ”but I a she placed herself in a position to shewthe truth, and that if she did nother sie her, but not to go too far; but not finding any resistance I accohtest evidence of pain, without any of the accidents of a first trial, but, on the contrary, with all the h I was sure of the contrary, I kept h to tell iven once, and she pretended to believe me
When the operation was finished, we had another aed us not to say a word about it to her papa or mamma, as they would be sure to scold her as they had scolded her when she got her ears pierced without asking their leave
Sara knew thatthrough her feigned simplicity, but she pretended not to do so as it was to her own advantage Who could have instructed her in the arts of deceit? nobody; only her natural wit, less rare in childhood than in youth, but always rare and astonishi+ng Her mother said her sient, and her father ns of her stupidity But if Sara had been stupid, our bursts of laughter would have disconcerted her; and she would have died for sha all the better pleased when her father deplored her stupidity She would affect astonish one sort of stupidity she corroborated it by displaying another She asked us questions to which we could not reply, and laughed at her instead, although it was evident that before putting such questions she ht have rejoined that the stupidity was on our side, but by so doing she would have betrayed herself
Lebel did not reply to his sweetheart, but M de Chavigni wrote es He spoke like a philosopher and an experienced man of the world
He shewed me that if I were an old man like him, and able to insure a happy and independent existence to my sweetheart after my death, I should do well to keep her from all men, especially as there was so perfect a sy man, and did not intend to bind e, I should not only consent to a union which seemed for her happiness, but that as a man of honour it was my duty to use my influence with her in favour of the entleht to know that a ti lost this opportunity, for your love is sure to become friendshi+p, and then another love will replace that which you now think as firm as the God Terminus
”Lebel,” he added, ”has told ed hi friend won my entire estee her with you I shall be delighted, therefore, to have her in ressing the laws of propriety Nevertheless, you will understand that at e I have formed no desires, for I could not satisfy the, and that he would consequently not hurry her, as she would see in the letter he was going to send her A ht always to be undertaken in cold blood