r seductive graces. I sat down beside
her, and taking one of her fair hands in mine, spoke as follows, with
perfect kindness: "Think not, dear lady, that I am not deeply moved by
your affliction. I am grateful to you for the stratagem by which you
contrived this interview. What you have communicated to me with so much
feeling not only lays down your line of action; it also suggests my
answer. Let us relegate to the chapter of accidental mishaps that fatal
occurrence, which will cause me lasting pain, and which remains fixed in
my memory. Yet I must tell you that I cannot regard you, after what then
happened, as I did formerly. Our union would only make two persons
miserable for life. Your good repute with me is in a sanctuary. Accept
this advice then from a young man who will be your good friend to his
dying day. Strengthen your mind, and be upon your guard against
seducers. The opportunity now offered is excellent; accept at once the
proposals of the honest merchant you named to me, and place yourself in
safety under his protection."

I did not wait for an answer; but kissed her hand, and took my leave,
without speaking about my waistcoat to the tailoress. A few months after
this interview she married the merchant. I saw her occasionally in the
street together with her husband. She was always beautiful. On
recognising me, she used to turn colour and drop her eyes. This is as
much as I can relate concerning my third lady-love. It came indeed to my
ears, from time to time, without instituting inquiries, that she was
well-conducted, discreet, exemplary in all her ways, and that she made
an excellent wife to her second husband.

XXXV.

_Reflections on the matter contained in the last three chapters, which
will be of use to no one._

These three love-affairs, which I have related in all their details, and
possibly with indiscreet minuteness, taught me some lessons in life. I
experienced them before I had completed my twenty-second year. They
transformed me into an Argus, all vigilance in regard to the fair sex.
Meanwhile I possessed a heart in some ways differing from the ordinary;
it had suffered by the repeated discovery of faithlessness in women--how
much I will not say; it had suffered also by the brusque acts of
disengagement, which my solid, resolute, and decided nature forced upon
me. The result was that I took good care to keep myself free in the
future from any such entanglements.

I was neither volup