Unsolicited Writings

Pride has doubtless quenched his love, she said toherself. What amania for writing,
he said to himself with a laugh, when it is soeasy for us to talk! The vault formed
by the limes, which wereadmirably pleached, intercepted the view. You must pull up
the ladder, said Mathilde. How arrogantlyhe stared at me last night in the Cafe
Tortoni, pretending not toknow me!
He saw that she was describing what was present before hereyes.
He went toreconnoitre the position and to try the weight of the ladder. The vault
formed by the limes, which wereadmirably pleached, intercepted the view.
He climbed quietly, pistol in hand,astonished not to find himself attacked. I may be
shot point-blank by a servant, but that isthe least danger; I may forfeit my honour.
Worse,still, perhaps, he felt no love for her!
Julien was overjoyed, he had not known what to say to her. What were his feelings on
finding Mademoisellede La Mole there? This kind of cruel intimacy lasted for a whole
week.
They stood motionless, without breathing.
Are you aware that nobody in the world has ever beenso presumptuous? Julien
succeeded inconcealing it in the bed of exotic flowers that ran beneath the wall. He
looked at all theservants in full livery.
How cruel is the interval between the conception of a great project and its
execution! Indeed, there is a strain of cowardice in notgoing.
This thought carried her back to the bravest days of the age ofCharles IX and Henri
III. She had found a certain happinessin allowing herself to write to various young
men of fashion.
Her reason felt a horror of the signal act offolly which she had just committed.
And so, he thought, I cannot even go away! He was on the pointof falling at her
feet, crushed with love and misery, and crying:Pity!