If I ever marry,--which I assure you is a
catastrophe very remote at the present moment,--I should wish my wife
to enjoy the same moral freedom that a mistress enjoys, and which is
perhaps the real source of her attraction."
Canalis talked on, displaying the warmth of his fancy and all his
graces, for Modeste's benefit, as he spoke of love, marriage, and the
adoration of women, until Monsieur Mignon, who had rejoined them,
seized the opportunity of a slight pause to take his daughter's arm
and lead her up to Ernest de La Briere, whom he had been advising to
seek an open explanation with her.
"Mademoiselle," said Ernest, in a voice that was scarcely his own, "it
is impossible for me to remain any longer under the weight of your
displeasure. I do not defend myself; I do not seek to justify my
conduct; I desire only to make you see that _before_ reading your most
flattering letter, addressed to the individual and no longer to the
poet,--the last which you sent to me,--I wished, and I told you in my
note written at Havre that I wished, to correct the error under which
you were acting. All the feelings that I have had the happiness to
express to you are sincere.
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