Acharming young man who has all the qualities that
I lack: a ready wit,birth, fortune .
He reflected at length, he paced the room with a
hurried step,stopping short now and again. Where is one to find discreetagents in
Paris? They will have plenty of time to see me, even from the neighbouringhouses.
Returning to the drawing-room, for the rest of theevening she never looked at him
again. Canit, by any chance, he asked himself, be a return to the path
ofvirtue?
I prefer that to the part ofMadame de Stael:
immoral conduct will be an obstacle in our time.
God knows for how manydays the Marquis is going to
keep me in Paris; great God!
I may be shot point-blank by a servant, but that
isthe least danger; I may forfeit my honour. There, he was free to exaggerate all
theiniquity of his lot.
He had madeup his mind to go, and not even to
answer the letter.
Mathilde received them in that light, and was not
offended. I prefer that to the part ofMadame de Stael: immoral conduct will be an
obstacle in our time. He went toreconnoitre the position and to try the weight of
the ladder. She had never for amoment anticipated the dreadful plight in which she
now found herself. Had his bosom been flooded with a mass of molten lead, he would
havesuffered less.
Mathilde had succumbed to all the agonies of
extreme shyness.
This thought carried her back to the bravest days
of the age ofCharles IX and Henri III.
Such coolness, such sagacity in her precautions
make itplain to me that I am not triumphing over M. I prefer that to the part
ofMadame de Stael: immoral conduct will be an obstacle in our time.