sit down at the edge of the water and you watch the bathers. The women
come down, wrapped in long bath robes, which they throw off daintily when
they reach the foamy edge of the rippling waves; and they run into the
water with a rapid little step, stopping from time to time for a
delightful little thrill from the cold water, a short gasp.

"Very few stand the test of the bath. It is there that they can be
judged, from the ankle to the throat. Especially on leaving the water are
the defects revealed, although water is a powerful aid to flabby skin.

"The first time that I saw this young woman in the water, I was
delighted, entranced. She stood the test well. There are faces whose
charms appeal to you at first glance and delight you instantly. You seem
to have found the woman whom you were born to love. I had that feeling
and that shock.

"I was introduced, and was soon smitten worse than I had ever been
before. My heart longed for her. It is a terrible yet delightful thing
thus to be dominated by a young woman. It is almost torture, and yet
infinite delight. Her look, her smile, her hair fluttering in the wind,
the little lines of her face, the slightest movement of her features,
delighted me, upset me, entranced me. She had captured me, body and soul,
by her gestures, her manners, even by her clothes, which seemed to take
on a peculiar charm as soon as she wore them. I grew tender at the sight
of her veil on some piece of furniture, her gloves thrown on a chair. Her
gowns seemed to me inimitable. Nobody had hats like hers.

"She was married, but her husband came only on Saturday, and left on
Monday. I didn't cencern myself about him, anyhow. I wasn't jealous of
him, I don't know why; never did a creature seem to me to be of less
importance in life, to attract my attention less than this man.

"But she! how I loved her! How beautiful, graceful and young she was! She
was youth, elegance, freshness itself! Never before had I felt so
strongly what a pretty, distinguished, delicate, charming, graceful being
woman is. Never before had I appreciated the seductive beauty to be found
in the curve of a cheek, the movement of a lip, the pinkness of an ear,
the shape of that foolish organ called the nose.

"This lasted three months; then I left for America, overwhelmed with
sadness. But her memory remained in me, persistent, triumphant. From far
away I was as much hers as I had been when she was near me. Years passed
by, and