"Can it
really be you who are talking in this strain?" cried the baron.
"You, a practical, worldly man, give way to such a burst of
sentiment?"
"Well, yes."
The baron opened his eyes in astonishment. "Ah! then you adore
your future bride!"
"Adore only feebly expresses my feelings."
"I must be dreaming."
Valorsay shrugged his shoulders with the air of a man who has made
up his mind to accept the banter of his friends; and in a tone of
mingled sentimentality and irony, he said: "I know that it's
absurd, and that I shall be the laughing-stock of my
acquaintances. Still it doesn't matter; I have never been coward
enough to hide my feelings. I'm in love, my dear baron, as madly
in love as a young collegian--sufficiently in love to watch my
lady's house at night even when I have no possible hope of seeing
her. I thought myself blase, I boasted of being invulnerable.
Well, one fine morning I woke up with the heart of a youth of
twenty beating in my breast--a heart which trembled at the
slightest glance from the girl I love, and sent purple flushes to
my face. Naturally I tried to reason with myself. I was ashamed
of my weakness; but the more clearly I showed myself my folly, the
more obstinate my heart became. And perhaps my folly is not such
a great one after all. Such perfect beauty united with such
modesty, grace, and nobility of soul, such passion, candor and
talent, cannot be met twice in a lifetime.
Pages:
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65