He wished to consult his soul, as it were, face to face, to probe like a man his mind to its utmost depths.

What he discovered there terrified him.

It was a mad intoxication, which the savor of crime further heightened.

Duty, loyalty, honor, all that rose before his passion to oppose it only exasperated its fury.

The pagan Venus was gnawing at his heart, and instilling her most subtle poisons into it.