She ventured even to
speak playfully of the pleasures of love, to eliminate from them all
moral considerations, to reduce them to their simplest elements, and
to prove that the favors of lovers were mere pleasure, that there were
no pledges--philosophically speaking--excepting those which were given
to the world, when we allowed it to penetrate our secrets and joined
it in the acts of indiscretion.
"How mild is the night," she said, "which we have by chance picked
out! Well, if there are reasons, as I suppose there are, which compel
us to part to-morrow, our happiness, ignored as it is by all nature,
will not leave us any ties to dissolve. There will, perhaps, be some
regrets, the pleasant memory of which will give us reparation; and
then there will be a mutual understanding, without all the delays, the
fuss and the tyranny of legal proceedings. We are such machines--and I
blush to avow it--that in place of all the shrinkings that tormented
me before this scene took place, I was half inclined to embrace the
boldness of these principles, and I felt already disposed to indulge
in the love of liberty.
"This beautiful night," she continued, "this lovely scenery at this
moment have taken on fresh charms. O let us never forget this
pavilion! The chateau," she added smilingly, "contains a still more
charming place, but I dare not show you anything; you are like a
child, who wishes to touch everything and breaks everything that he
touches.
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