Volume IV Part 102 (1/2)
”I will do the same for you at the first opportunity,” said I
She blushed and answered, ”It's not nearly so far from you to me as it is from me to you”
”Divine Hebe, that is beyondYou speak like the cu oracles at your temple in Corinth”
”Had Hebe a temple at Corinth? Sardini never said so”
”But Apollodorus says so It was an asylum as well as a temple But come back to the point, and pray do not elude it What you said is opposed to all the laws of geoht to be precisely the same as fro”
”Not at all, Hebe, you have an idea whichit out Come, tell me”
”Well, then, the two distances differ from each other with respect to the ascent and descent, or fall, if you like Are not all bodies inclined to obey the laws of gravitation unless they are held back by a superior force?”
”Certainly”
”And is it not the case that no bodies move in an upward direction unless they are impelled?”
”Quite true”
”Then you must confess that since I am shorter than you I should have to ascend to attain you, and ascension is always an effort; while if you wish to attain o, which is no effort whatever Thus it is no risk at all for you to let reat risk for ht be overwhelmed by your too rapid descent on me
Are you persuaded?”
”Persuaded is not the word, fair Hebe I am ravished in an ecstacy of adht cavil and contest it, but I prefer to keep silence to admire and adore”
”Thank you, dear Iolas, but I want no favour Tell uht You know you would not let e your chemise even if I were a dwarf”
”Ah, dear Iolas! we cannot deceive each other Would that Heaven had destined me to be married to ato such a position?”
I do not knohere the conversation would have landed us, but just then the countess calad to see we loved one another
”Madly,” said Clementine, ”but we are discreet”
”If you are discreet, you cannot love madly”
”True, countess,” said I, ”for the ether I should rather say we are reasonable, for the ay”
We dinedwe finished reading the Pastor Fido When ere discussing the beauties of this delightful work Clementine asked me if the thirteenth book of the ”AEneid” was fine
”My dear countess, it is quite worthless; and I only praised it to flatter the descendant of the author However, the same writer made a poem on the tricks of countryfolk, which is by no means devoid ofyou fro”