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CHAPTER XXV
A DIPLOMATIC LETTER
The poet's reflections during the night were thoroughly matter of
fact. He sincerely saw nothing worse in life than the situation of a
married man without money. Still trembling at the danger he had been
led into by his vanity, his desire to get the better of the duke, and
his belief in the Mignon millions, he began to ask himself what the
duchess must be thinking of his stay in Havre, aggravated by the fact
that he had not written to her for fourteen days, whereas in Paris
they exchanged four or five letters a week.
"And that poor woman is working hard to get me appointed commander of
the Legion and ambassador to the Court of Baden!" he cried.
Thereupon, with that promptitude of decision which results--in poets
as well as in speculators--from a lively intuition of the future, he
sat down and composed the following letter:--
To Madame la Duchesse de Chaulieu:
My dear Eleonore,--You have doubtless been surprised at not
hearing from me; but the stay I am making in this place is not
altogether on account of my health.
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