To his surprise, he viewed its
arrival without emotion; if with any feeling, with disgust.
He had quaffed the cup too eagerly. The draught had been delicious; but
time also proved that it had been satiating. Was it possible for his
vanity to be more completely gratified than it had been? Was it possible
for victories to be more numerous and more unquestioned during the
coming campaign than during the last? Had not his life, then, been one
long triumph? Who had not offered their admiration? Who had not paid
homage to his all-acknowledged empire? Yet, even this career, however
dazzling, had not been pursued, even this success, however brilliant,
had not been attained, without some effort and some weariness, also some
exhaustion. Often, as he now remembered, had his head ached; more than
once, as now occurred to him, had his heart faltered. Even his first
season had not passed over without his feeling lone in the crowded
saloon, or starting at the supernatural finger in the banqueting-hall.
Yet then he was the creature of excitement, who pursued an end which
was as indefinite as it seemed to be splendid.
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