登陆注册
4606300000231

第231章

"Who can she be," I said, speaking to the walls; "this girl who seems to have the most elevated feelings under the veil of the most cynical libertinism? She says that in Parma she wishes to remain perfectly unknown, her own mistress, and I cannot, of course, flatter myself that she will not place me under the same restrictions as the captain to whom she has already abandoned herself. Goodbye to my expectations, to my money, and my illusions! But who is she--what is she? She must have either a lover or a husband in Parma, or she must belong to a respectable family; or, perhaps, thanks to a boundless love for debauchery and to her confidence in her own charms, she intends to set fortune, misery, and degradation at defiance, and to try to enslave some wealthy nobleman! But that would be the plan of a mad woman or of a person reduced to utter despair, and it does not seem to be the case with Henriette. Yet she possesses nothing.

True, but she refused, as if she had been provided with all she needed, the kind assistance of a man who has the right to offer it, and from whom, in sooth, she can accept without blushing, since she has not been ashamed to grant him favours with which love had nothing to do. Does she think that it is less shameful for a woman to abandon herself to the desires of a man unknown and unloved than to receive a present from an esteemed friend, and particularly at the eve of finding herself in the street, entirely destitute in the middle of a foreign city, amongst people whose language she cannot even speak? Perhaps she thinks that such conduct will justify the 'faux pas' of which she has been guilty with the captain, and give him to understand that she had abandoned herself to him only for the sake of escaping from the officer with whom she was in Rome. But she ought to be quite certain that the captain does not entertain any other idea; he shews himself so reasonable that it is impossible to suppose that he ever admitted the possibility of having inspired her with a violent passion, because she had seen him once through a window in Civita-Vecchia. She might possibly be right, and feel herself justified in her conduct towards the captain, but it is not the same with me, for with her intelligence she must be aware that I

would not have travelled with them if she had been indifferent to me, and she must know that there is but one way in which she can obtain my pardon. She may be endowed with many virtues, but she has not the only one which could prevent me from wishing the reward which every man expects to receive at the hands of the woman he loves. If she wants to assume prudish manners towards me and to make a dupe of me, I am bound in honour to shew her how much she is mistaken."

After this monologue, which had made me still more angry, I made up my mind to have an explanation in the morning before our departure.

"I shall ask her," said I to myself, "to grant me the same favours which she has so easily granted to her old captain, and if I meet with a refusal the best revenge will be to shew her a cold and profound contempt until our arrival in Parma."

I felt sure that she could not refuse me some marks of real or of pretended affection, unless she wished to make a show of a modesty which certainly did not belong to her, and, knowing that her modesty would only be all pretence, I was determined not to be a mere toy in her hands.

As for the captain, I felt certain, from what he had told me, that he would not be angry with me if I risked a declaration, for as a sensible man he could only assume a neutral position.

Satisfied with my wise reasoning, and with my mind fully made up, I

fell asleep. My thoughts were too completely absorbed by Henriette for her not to haunt my dreams, but the dream which I had throughout the night was so much like reality that, on awaking, I looked for her in my bed, and my imagination was so deeply struck with the delights of that night that, if my door had not been fastened with a bolt, I

should have believed that she had left me during my sleep to resume her place near the worthy Hungarian.

When I was awake I found that the happy dream of the night had turned my love for the lovely creature into a perfect amorous frenzy, and it could not be other wise. Let the reader imagine a poor devil going to bed broken down with fatigue and starvation; he succumbs to sleep, that most imperative of all human wants, but in his dream he finds himself before a table covered with every delicacy; what will then happen? Why, a very natural result. His appetite, much more lively than on the previous day, does not give him a minute's rest he must satisfy it or die of sheer hunger.

I dressed myself, resolved on making sure of the possession of the woman who had inflamed all my senses, even before resuming our journey.

"If I do not succeed," I said to myself, "I will not go one step further."

But, in order not to offend against propriety, and not to deserve the reproaches of an honest man, I felt that it was my duty to have an explanation with the captain in the first place.

I fancy that I hear one of those sensible, calm, passionless readers, who have had the advantage of what is called a youth without storms, or one of those whom old age has forced to become virtuous, exclaim, "Can anyone attach so much importance to such nonsense?"

Age has calmed my passions down by rendering them powerless, but my heart has not grown old, and my memory has kept all the freshness of youth; and far from considering that sort of thing a mere trifle, my only sorrow, dear reader, arises from the fact that I have not the power to practise, to the day of my death, that which has been the principal affair of my life!

When I was ready I repaired to the chamber occupied by my two travelling companions, and after paying each of them the usual morning compliments I told the officer that I was deeply in love with Henriette, and I asked him whether he would object to my trying to obtain her as my mistress.

同类推荐
  • 物理小识

    物理小识

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太清石壁记

    太清石壁记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 论死篇

    论死篇

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 李义山诗集注

    李义山诗集注

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 须摩提经

    须摩提经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 盛世贵妻

    盛世贵妻

    传闻她痴笨如傻,泼如无赖;传闻他才华横溢,俊朗无双。一朝圣旨,奉命成婚,大婚当日,她出尽洋相,未拜堂便被直接撵走。明里她粗鄙不堪,是右相痴傻长女,冀王府的痴笨王妃。暗里她是神医妙手,也是柳州第一‘公子’,一心想摆脱与皇家的牵扯,却和离不成,反与自己的丈夫‘结拜’。知她真实身份,他震惊,愤怒,满心欢喜,却痛苦不堪。“你明知我一直在找你,你明明就在我身边,是我锗天予的妻子,却要骗我写下休书。司如影,你好狠的心!”“可我不想做你的妻子。”后来,她只知,她是他烙在心上的人,逃不掉,也躲不开。
  • 御灵

    御灵

    夫天地万物,俱有灵气,或内敛,或外现。是以风水相士之眼观之,天时地利,良莠不齐,盖不可直论优劣。崇山峻岭,却有毒蛇猛兽出没;涓流镜湖,却有决堤泛滥之险......
  • 红莲赤焰

    红莲赤焰

    醒来已过百年事,回眸却道是故人。本以为身死万事休,却发现自己尚在人间。一心复仇的凡人国君,谄媚献计的天界国师,宁死不屈的冥界巫女,以命换命被打破的平衡格局。三百年后,缺魂少魄的巫女苏醒,身边出现了为她拼凑完整人生之人。本以为一切早已结束,却不料是命运的延续。本故事纯粹架空,一切理论皆道听途说,作者才疏学浅,经不起考究推敲,只求同好一起圈地自萌。
  • 魅力延长

    魅力延长

    有很多人看到“延一井”会觉的原来这陆上第一口油井也不过如此。是的,它看起来确实不过如此。但是,它蕴含着无比巨大的能量,它的象征意义和辐射作用难以用合适的词来比拟。1938年,玉门油矿开发初期,延长石油厂将2台完整的顿钻支援玉门。同时派去18名技术熟练的钻井工人。在玉门老君庙钻成1号发现井,揭开了玉门油田开发建设的序幕。“延一井”的血液流淌遍陕北大地,流向甘肃玉门,它的胸怀如母亲般宽广伟大,哺育着共和国石油的诞生和续写着不老的传奇。1949年建国后,延长油矿先后向全国各地输送1400多名科技骨干和管理人才,克拉玛依、大庆、胜利、中原、长庆等油田处处可见它的身影。
  • 爱情是个什么玩意儿

    爱情是个什么玩意儿

    不会吞药,每次生病,要么把胶囊打开,要么就到处找锤子把药片搞碎。戴墨镜,竖衣领,帽子拉下遮住脸,以迅雷不及掩耳盗铃之势闪入一家药店。出差了,爆笑私房话少了很多,一个人在家的女人又开始走忧郁路线。你看你,没长相,没身材,没能力,真是典型的“三没老婆”。
  • 养老护理预防摔伤技巧

    养老护理预防摔伤技巧

    本系列教材是上海和佑养老集团经过多年研究、实践与探索,参考并结合国际上先进的养老护理知识与项目管理理念,为提高养老行业从业者的知识及技术水平而编写的,另外该套教材也可用于养老护理员的教育和培训。
  • Westward Ho

    Westward Ho

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说满愿子经

    佛说满愿子经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 释门归敬仪

    释门归敬仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 仙门女魔尊

    仙门女魔尊

    我最爱的人,伤我最深,南宫哥哥,我待你如初,一心不变,你却听他人言,灭我仙身,逐出仙门。最爱我的人,我伤得最深,姐姐,哥哥,你们埋藏深情,舍弃自我,一心为了我这个妹妹,当我明白的时候,却已无法报答你们。爱恨情仇,仙魔两道,缘起缘灭,孰能分清!为了爱,我愿如魔道般任意妄为,只遵我心!