It was very satisfactory to me. She had
not seen Madame de S--! That was excellent, excellent! I welcomed the
conviction that she would never know Madame de S-- now. I could not
explain the reason of the conviction but by the knowledge that Miss
Haldin was standing face to face with her brother's wonderful friend. I
preferred him to Madame de S-- as the companion and guide of that young
girl, abandoned to her inexperience by the miserable end of her brother.
But, at any rate, that life now ended had been sincere, and perhaps its
thoughts might have been lofty, its moral sufferings profound, its last
act a true sacrifice. It is not for us, the staid lovers calmed by
the possession of a conquered liberty, to condemn without appeal the
fierceness of thwarted desire.
I am not ashamed of the warmth of my regard for Miss Haldin. It was, it
must be admitted, an unselfish sentiment, being its own reward. The late
Victor Haldin--in the light of that sentiment--appeared to me not as a
sinister conspirator, but as a pure enthusiast. I did not wish indeed
to judge him, but the very fact that he did not escape, that fact which
brought so much trouble to both his mother and his sister, spoke to me
in his favour. Meantime, in my fear of seeing the girl surrender to the
influence of the Chateau Borel revolutionary feminism, I was more than
willing to put my trust in that friend of the late Victor Haldin.
Pages:
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217