At five o'clock in the morning, as the light began to appear through the
curtains, Marguerite said to me: "Forgive me if I send you away; but I
must. The duke comes every morning; they will tell him, when he comes,
that I am asleep, and perhaps he will wait until I wake."
I took Marguerite's head in my hands; her loosened hair streamed about
her; I gave her a last kiss, saying: "When shall I see you again?"
"Listen," she said; "take the little gilt key on the mantelpiece, open
that door; bring me back the key and go. In the course of the day
you shall have a letter, and my orders, for you know you are to obey
blindly."
"Yes; but if I should already ask for something?"
"What?"
"Let me have that key."
"What you ask is a thing I have never done for any one."
"Well, do it for me, for I swear to you that I don't love you as the
others have loved you."
"Well, keep it; but it only depends on me to make it useless to you,
after all."
"How?"
"There are bolts on the door."
"Wretch!"
"I will have them taken off."
"You love, then, a little?"
"I don't know how it is, but it seems to me as if I do! Now, go; I can't
keep my eyes open."
I held her in my arms for a few seconds and then went.
The streets were empty, the great city was still asleep, a sweet
freshness circulated in the streets that a few hours later would be
filled with the noise of men. It seemed to me as if this sleeping
city belonged to me; I searched my memory for the names of those whose
happiness I had once envied; and I could not recall one without finding
myself the happier.
To be loved by a pure young girl, to be the first to reveal to her the
strange mystery of love, is indeed a great happiness, but it is the
simplest thing in the world. To take captive a heart which has had no
experience of attack, is to enter an unfortified and ungarrisoned city.
Education, family feeling, the sense of duty, the family, are strong
sentinels, but there are no sentinels so vigilant as not to be deceived
by a girl of sixteen to whom nature, by the voice of the man she loves,
gives the first counsels of love, all the more ardent because they seem
so pure.