As I clasped her form, I forgot all about my fatigue and bruises, and felt intuitively that I was more in love than ever with that woman who was now indissolubly bound to another. Thus to hold her—in that room walled in by vegetation, gilded by the sun, which at times, stealing through the branches, cast a playful ray upon the bride’s hair or brow—made me beside myself. I observed the delicate outlines of her lithe figure; I felt her warm breath on my cheek; and the wild fancy which agitated me became a longing so vehement that I was obliged to exert all my self-control in order not to press her so closely to my heart as to hurt her.
Nevertheless, my transport was the purest and most sublimated of all such loving raptures. I felt a heavenly illusion, if I may so call it; a divine illusion, noble in its origin and development. What thrilled me most was the thought that I held in my arms the purest and holiest woman on earth, and that, although she belonged to another, she was still a virgin, pure, unsoiled as the calyx of a lily, as the orange blossoms which she still wore on her bosom, and which, as they faded, gave out an intoxicating and delicious perfume.
We waltzed on very smoothly, and between the turns, I believe I said to her:
“As we are relatives now, may I address you with the tu?”
“Of course; it would be absurd for you to be so terribly formal as to say usted to me.”
“Will you get vexed?”
“No, why should I?”
I remained silent. The silken folds of her dress brushed caressingly across my knees, and I felt my heart, agitated by the movement of the waltz, beating violently. Then, with an irresistible impulse, the truth burst from my lips:
“Auntie,” I murmured, “forgive me. I have behaved very badly toward you, don’t you know? I was indiscreet. But then, I am so glad, so glad! Because I now know all that you are worth; and listen—I know it to be so much, that I am like one crazy. Don’t you see it?”
“Be quiet, you silly boy!” she replied, somewhat short-breathed from dancing. “If you were really indiscreet, what shall I say to you? You did very wrong.”