ongue.

We did not finish our reading till day-break.

"What a night!" exclaimed Clementine, with a sigh.

"It has been one of great pleasure to me, has it not to you?"

"I have enjoyed it because you have."

"And if you had been reading by yourself?"

"It would have still been a pleasure, but a much smaller one. I love your
intellect to distraction, Clementine, but tell me, do you think it
possible to love the intellect without loving that which contains it?"

"No, for without the body the spirit would vanish away."

"I conclude from that that I am deeply in love with you, and that I
cannot pass six or seven hours in your company without longing to kiss
you."

"Certainly, but we resist these desires because we have duties to
perform, which would rise up against us if we left them undone."

"True again, but if your disposition at all resembles mine this
constraint must be very painful to you."

"Perhaps I feel it as much as you do, but it is my belief that it is only
hard to withstand temptation at first. By degrees one gets accustomed to
loving without running any risk and without effort. Our senses, at first
so sharp set, end by becoming blunted, and when this is the case we may
spend hours and days in safety, untroubled by desire."

"I have my doubts as far as I am concerned, but we shall see. Good night,
fair Hebe."

"Good night, my good Iolas, may you sleep well!"

"My sleep will be haunted by visions of you."

CHAPTER XXII

Our Excursion--Parting From Clementine--I Leave Milan With Croce's
Mistress My Arrival At Genoa

The ancients, whose fancy was so fertile in allegory, used to figure
Innocence as playing with a serpent or with a sharp arrow. These old
sages had made a deep study of the human heart; and whatever discoveries
modern science may have made, the old symbols may still be profitably
studied by those who wish to gain a deep insight into the working of
man's mind.

I went to bed, and after having dismissed Clairmont I began to reflect on
my relations with Clementine, who seemed to have been made to shine in a
sphere from which, in spite of her high birth, her intelligence, and her
rare beauty, her want of fortune kept her apart. I smiled to myself at
her doctrines, which were as much as to say that the best way of curing
appetite was to place a series of appetising dishes before a hungry man,
forbidding him to touch them. Nevertheless I could but approve the words
which she h