Part 12 (1/2)
”It is delightful to be here with you, Doris, but the sunlight is not sufficient for ht thinking of you, and now I o down to that bay and join the nymphs there
Don't ask me if I believe that I should find a nymph to love me; one doesn't knohat one believes, I only know that I am unhappy”
”But why, dear, do you allow yourself to be unhappy? Look at that lizard Isn't he nice? Isn't he satisfied? He desires nothing but what he has got, light and warmth”
”And, Doris, would you likeht and war her eyes ht, I said:
”'And the sunlight clasps the earth, And the s worth, If thou kiss notof the spheres and of the flowers If I don't becoreat harmony, I must die”
”But you do kissturns cold and the coache”
”Wilful Doris! Pretty puss cat!”
”I' with you, dear I do assure you I feel the strain of these days; but what am I to do? You wouldn't have me tell you to stay at my hotel and to compromise myself before all these people?”
”These people! Those boarding-houses are driving ht you liked her You said she is good, 'a sih, according to yesterday's creed You were never nicer than you were yesterday speaking of her (I remember your words): you said the flesh fades, the intellect withers, only the heart re; only yesterday's truth is not to-day's One day we are attracted by goodness, another day by beauty; and beauty has been calling me day after day: at first the call was heard far away like a horn in the woods, but now the call has become more imperative, and all the landscape isby those ancient ruins, it seemed to me as if I had been transported out of inal nature of two thousand years ago The sight of those ancient columns quickened a new soul within an to ee? The dead are never wholly dead; their ideas live in us I aland I never appreciated you as intensely as I do here Doris, I have learned to appreciate you like a work of art It is the spirit of antiquity that has taken hold of me, that has risen out of the earth and claimed me
That hat I would put away----”
”Don't you likeof the Doris that lived two thousand years ago; she did not wear a hat In ih I may never see her with mortal eyes”
”Why should you not see her, dear?”
”I have begun to despair All these boarding-houses and their inhabitants jar the spirit that this landscape has kindled within o aith you where I erated, but it is quite true that you reh it is quite clear to me”
”But you do possess me, dear?”
”No, Doris, not as I wish This journey will be a bitter memory that will endure for ever; we must think not only of the day that we live, but of the days in front of us; we must store our memories as the squirrel stores nuts, we must have a winter hoard If some way is not found out of this horrible dilemma, I shall remember you as a collector remembers a vase which a workman handed to him and which slipped and was broken, or like a vase that was stolen from him; I cannot find a perfect simile, at least not at this moment; my speech is imperfect, but you will understand”
”Yes, I understand, I think I understand”
”If I do not get you, it will seem to s are not so bad as that We need not be in Paris for soh I cannot ask you to my hotel, there is no reason why----”
”Doris, do not raise up false hopes”
”I was only going to say, dear, that it does not seeht back to Paris”
”You ht stop sohteenth-century house O Doris, how enchanting this would be! I hardly dare to think lest----”
”Lest what, dear? Lest I should deceive you?”