[To Paris And Prison: Paris by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt]@TWC D-Link bookTo Paris And Prison: Paris CHAPTER I 29/31
Her noble and modest bearing soon compelled me to put myself in unison with her, and I did so without difficulty, for she was not acting a part, and the way in which she had resumed her natural character made it easy for me to follow her on that ground. I was gazing at her with admiration, and, urged by a feeling which I did not take time to analyze, I took her hand to kiss it with respect, but, without giving me an opportunity of raising it to my lips, she offered me her lovely mouth.
Never did a kiss taste so delicious. "Am I not then always the same ?" said she to me, with deep feeling. "No, heavenly creature, and it is so true that you are no longer the same in my eyes that I could not now use any familiarity towards you.
You are no longer the witty, free young officer who told Madame Querini about the game of Pharaoh, end about the deposits made to your bank by the captain in so niggardly a manner that they were hardly worth mentioning." "It is very true that, wearing the costume of my sex, I should never dare to utter such words.
Yet, dearest friend, it does not prevent my being your Henriette--that Henriette who has in her life been guilty of three escapades, the last of which would have utterly ruined me if it had not been for you, but which I call a delightful error, since it has been the cause of my knowing you." Those words moved me so deeply that I was on the point of throwing myself at her feet, to entreat her to forgive me for not having shewn her more respect, but Henriette, who saw the state in which I was, and who wanted to put an end to the pathetic scene, began to shake our poor captain, who sat as motionless as a statue, and as if he had been petrified.
He felt ashamed at having treated such a woman as an adventuress, for he knew that what he now saw was not an illusion.
<<Back Index Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
|