ence;
the interest which she took in my studies to her worship of human
dignity as it stood rehabilitated by philosophy; her quiet and continued
affection for M. de la March to a profound regret, kept in subjection
by the strength and wisdom of her mind. These perplexities I felt very
acutely. The hope of compelling her love by submission and devotion had
sustained me; but this hope was beginning to grow weak; for though, as
all allowed, I had made prodigious efforts and extraordinary progress,
Edmee's regard for me had been very far from increasing in the same
proportion. She had not shown any astonishment at what she called my
lofty intellect; she had always believed in it; she had praised it
unreasonably. But she was not blind to the faults in my character,
to the vices of my soul. She had reproached me with these with an
inexorable sweetness, with a patience calculated to drive me to despair;
for she seemed to have made up her mind that, whatever the future might
bring, she would never love me more and never less.

Meanwhile all were paying court to her and none were accepted. It had,
indeed, been given out that she was engaged to M. de la Marche, but no
one understood any better than myself the indefinite postponement of the
marriage. People came to the conclusion that she was seeking a pretext
to get rid of him, and they could find no ground for her repugnance
except by supposing that she had conceived a great passion for myself.
My strange history had caused some stir; the women examined me with
curiosity; the men seemed interested in me and showed me a sort of
respect which I affected to despise, but to which, however, I was far
from insensible. And, since nothing finds credence in the world until it
is embellished with some fiction, people strangely exaggerated my wit,
my capabilities and my learning; but, as soon as they had seen M. de
la Marche and myself in Edmee's company, all their inferences were
annihilated by the composure and ease of our manners. To both of us
Edmee was the same in public as in private; M. de la Marche, a soulless
puppet, was perfectly drilled in conventional manners; and myself, a
prey to divers passions, but inscrutable by reason of my pride and also,
I must confess, of my pretensions to the sublimity of the _American
manner_. I should tell you that I had been fortunate enough to be
introduced to Franklin as a sincere devotee of liberty. Sir Arthur
Lee had honoured me with a certain