e dropped
upon his knees, a little distance away, and said, softly: 'No, I am more
feverish even than you are; I should make you hot. If I wasn't afraid of
hurting you, I would take you in my arms, and clasp you so tightly that
we should no longer feel any pain.'

He dragged himself nearer to her on his knees.

'Oh! to have you in my arms! In the night I awake from dreams in which
I see you near me; but, alas! you are ever far away. There seems to be
some wall built up between us which I can never beat down. And yet I am
now quite strong again; I could catch you up in my arms and swing you
over my shoulder, and carry you off as though you belonged to me.'

He had let himself sink upon his elbows, in an attitude of deep
adoration. And he breathed a kiss upon the hem of Albine's skirt. But at
this the girl sprang up, as though it was she herself that had received
the kiss. She hid her brow with her hands, perturbed, quivering, and
stammering forth: 'Don't! don't! I beg of you. Let us go on.'

She did not hurry away, but let Serge follow her as she walked slowly
on, stumbling against the roots of the plants, and with her hands still
clasped round her head, as though to check the excitement that thrilled
her. When they came out of the little wood, they took a few steps over
ledges of rocks, on which a whole nation of ardent fleshy plants was
squatting. It was like a crawling, writhing assemblage of hideous
nameless monsters such as people a nightmare; monsters akin to spiders,
caterpillars, and wood-lice, grown to gigantic proportions, some with
bare glaucous skins, others tufted with filthy matted hairs, whilst many
had sickly limbs--dwarf legs, and shrivelled, palsied arms--sprawling
around them. And some displayed horrid dropsical bellies; some had
spines bossy with hideous humps, and others looked like dislocated
skeletons. Mamillaria threw up living pustules, a crawling swarm of
greenish tortoises, bristling hideously with long hairs that were
stiffer than iron. The echinocacti, which showed more flesh, suggested
nests of young writhing, knotted vipers. The echinopses were mere
excrescent red-haired growths that made one think of huge insects rolled
into balls. The prickly-pears spread out fleshy leaves spotted with
ruddy spikes that resembled swarms of microscopic bees. The gasterias
sprawled about like big shepherd-spiders turned over on their backs,
with long-speckled and striated legs. The cacti of the cereus fa