Such was the sole enjoyment of a man of the most combustible constitution, but who was, at the same time, perhaps, one of the most timid mortals nature ever produced.

Such were the last happy days I can reckon upon earth; at the end of these began the long train of evils, in which there will be found but little interruption.
It has been seen that, during the whole course of my life, my heart, as transparent as crystal, has never been capable of concealing for the space of a moment any sentiment in the least lively which had taken refuge in it.

It will therefore be judged whether or not it was possible for me long to conceal my affection for Madam d'Houdetot.

Our intimacy struck the eyes of everybody, we did not make of it either a secret or a mystery.

It was not of a nature to require any such precaution, and as Madam d'Houdetot had for me the most tender friendship with which she did not reproach herself, and I for her an esteem with the justice of which nobody was better acquainted than myself; she frank, absent, heedless; I true, awkward, haughty, impatient and choleric; We exposed ourselves more in deceitful security than we should have done had we been culpable.