When Calyste had left her, Beatrix felt so wretched, so profoundly
humiliated, that she went to bed; she was really ill; the violent
struggle which wrung her heart seemed to reach a physical reaction,
and she sent for the doctor; but at the same time she despatched to La
Palferine the following letter, in which she revenged herself on
Calyste with a sort of rage:--
To Monsieur le Comte de la Palferine.
My Friend,--Come and see me; I am in despair. Antoine sent you
away when your arrival would have put an end to one of the most
horrible nightmares of my life and delivered me from a man I hate,
and whom I trust never to see again. I love you only in this
world, and I can never again love any one but you, though I have
the misfortune not to please you as I fain would--
She wrote four pages which, beginning thus, ended in an exaltation too
poetic for typography, in which she compromised herself so completely
that the letter closed with these words: "Am I sufficiently at your
mercy? Ah! nothing will cost me anything if it only proves to you how
much you are loved.
Pages:
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573