her to himself in the arms of another,
and all the tortures of jealousy racked his soul. Never could he find
the courage to consent to such a sacrifice. All sorts of plans clasped
together in his seething brain; he would turn her from the marriage, and
keep her with him, without ever allowing her to suspect his passion;
he would take her away, and they would go from city to city,
occupying their minds with endless studies, in order to keep up their
companionship as master and pupil; or even, if it should be necessary,
he would send her to her brother to nurse him, he would lose her forever
rather than give her to a husband. And at each of these resolutions he
felt his heart, torn asunder, cry out with anguish in the imperious
need of possessing her entirely. He was no longer satisfied with her
presence, he wished to keep her for himself, with himself, as she
appeared to him in her radiant beauty, in the darkness of his chamber,
with her unbound hair falling around her.

His arms clasped the empty air, and he sprang out of bed, staggering
like a drunken man; and it was only in the darkness and silence of the
workroom that he awoke from this sudden fit of madness. Where, then,
was he going, great God? To knock at the door of this sleeping child?
to break it in, perhaps, with a blow of his shoulder? The soft, pure
respiration, which he fancied he heard like a sacred wind in the midst
of the profound silence, struck him on the face and turned him back. And
he returned to his room and threw himself on his bed, in a passion of
shame and wild despair.

On the following day when he arose, Pascal, worn out by want of sleep,
had come to a decision. He took his daily shower bath, and he felt
himself stronger and saner. The resolution to which he had come was to
compel Clotilde to give her word. When she should have formally promised
to marry Ramond, it seemed to him that this final solution would calm
him, would forbid his indulging in any false hopes. This would be a
barrier the more, an insurmountable barrier between her and him. He
would be from that moment armed against his desire, and if he still
suffered, it would be suffering only, without the horrible fear of
becoming a dishonorable man.

On this morning, when he told the young girl that she ought to delay
no longer, that she owed a decisive answer to the worthy fellow who had
been awaiting it so long, she seemed at first astonished. She looked
straight into his eyes, b