sed
upon reaching Stockholm by water not to be greeted by the squadrons with
volleys of artillery, as was once done in honor of a famous cantatrice.
Let Diplomacy look sharp! Jocquelet is indifferent to the court of
Sweden!
After Paul Sillery's departure Amedee turned over in his mind various
other recollections of former days. He has been a trifle estranged from
Madame Roger since his marriage to Maria, but he sometimes takes little
Maurice to see her. She has sheltered and given each of Colonel Lantz's
daughters a dowry. Pretty Rosine Combarieu's face rises up before him,
his childhood's companion, whom he met at Bullier's and never has seen
since. What has become of the poor little creature? Amedee almost hopes
that she is dead. Ah, how sad these old memories are in the autumn, when
the leaves are falling and the sun is setting!
It has set, it has plunged beneath the horizon, and suddenly all is
dark. Over the darkened landscape in the vast pearl-colored sky spreads
the melancholy chill which follows the farewell of day. The white smoke
from the city has turned gray, the river is like a dulled mirror. A
moment ago, in the sun's last rays, the dead leaves, as they fell,
looked like a golden rain, now they seem a dark snow.
Where are all your illusions and hopes of other days, Amedee Violette?
You think this evening of the rapid flight of years, of the snowy flakes
of winter which are beginning to fall on your temples. You have the
proof to-day of the impossibility of absolutely requited love in this
world. You know that happiness, or what is called so, exists only by
snatches and lasts only a moment, and how commonplace it often is
and how sad the next day! You depend upon your art for consolation.
Oppressed by the monotonous ennui of living, you ask for the
forgetfulness that only the intoxication of poetry and dreams can give
you. Alas! Poor sentimentalist, your youth is ended!
And still the leaves fall!
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
Break in his memory, like a book with several leaves torn out
Dreams, instead of living
Egotists and cowards always have a reason for everything
Eternally condemned to kill each other in order to live
Fortunate enough to keep those one loves
God forgive the timid and the prattler!
Good form consists, above all things, in keeping silent
Happiness exists only by snatches and lasts only a moment
He does not know the miseries of
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