and went to see her.
As I went up the stairs to her apartment, I was so much overcome by
emotion that I trembled, and my heart panted; I was seized with
vehement desire from head to foot.

"I entered the apartment. She rose up the moment she heard my name
pronounced; and suddenly our eyes met in a fixed look of astonishment.

"I sat down.

"I uttered in a faltering tone some commonplaces which she seemed not
to hear. I did not know what to say or to do. Then, abruptly, I flung
myself upon her; seizing her with both arms; and my entire dream was
accomplished so quickly, so easily, so madly, that I suddenly began to
doubt whether I was really awake. She was, after this, my mistress for
two years."

"What conclusion do you draw from it?" said a voice.

The story-teller seemed to hesitate.

"The conclusion I draw from it--well, by Jove, the conclusion is that it
was just a coincidence! And, in the next place, who can tell? Perhaps it
was some glance of hers which I had not noticed and which came back that
night to me--one of those mysterious and unconscious evocations of memory
which often bring before us things ignored by our own consciousness,
unperceived by our minds!"

"Let that be just as you wish it," said one of his table companions, when
the story was finished, "but if you don't believe in magnetism after
that, you are an ungrateful fellow, my dear boy!"

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WORKS OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT,
VOLUME IV (OF 8)***

******* This file should be named 17377.txt or 17377.zip *******

This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/3/7/17377

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may