Boyer, am I not in Valmont castle?—Did I not come hither to carry off the niece of Valmont? And was that bright vision the Sibella Valmont whom I have so traduced?—Hush! Walter! repeat not my crime, if thou hopest for peace in this world, or happiness in the next! It could not be her, her that I came in search of!—Yes, but it was her. Angel as she is in form, her heart is the heart of a mortal still. 'Oh, Clement!' said she, and, spreading one hand upon her heaving bosom, sighed deeply.—She addressed herself to that picture.
'Art thou safe, my love?—terrifying dreams disturb my rest!' She saw me not, for her back was toward me as she entered. 'Heaven preserve my Clement!' said she again after a pause.
She would have continued thus soliloquizing, but I, to gain a view of her face, attempted to change my attitude. My cursed coat had somehow got entangled in the chair, and threw it against the table as I moved. She turned around; and I, as in the presence of a goddess, bowed lowly to the very ground.
She then approached nearer; and my eyes retreated from the scrutiny with which she viewed me. The examination lasted more than a minute; and all that time I was racking my invention to find words to address her, but I might as well have been born dumb: I had neither articulation, nor sounds to articulate.
'Mark me, Sir,' said she, and I, like the idiot I had been describing her, bowed again: 'Mr. Valmont may bring you here; may make this castle my prison; but my will is free. I tell you, Sir, I am beyond your reach. Remember it, I am beyond your reach.'—And away she glided.
'Mr. Valmont may bring you here.' Why, who the devil could she take me for? I thought Mr. Valmont brought nobody here!—'I am beyond your reach.' Say not so, sweet saint!—I would not have you now beyond my reach for a king's ransom. If she should alarm the house, Walter.——Hark!——No.—'Tis nothing.—she knew me: yet knew me not.—defied me: yet is a stranger to my purpose.—What can all this mean?—Ha! then it may be true, that this frightful place has deranged her intellects!—Certainly that is the case. She looked a lovely lunatic, wrapped up in a loose gown, her hair streaming at its length; and arisen, in the dead of night, to apostrophize to her own picture!
Yet I am not deterred, Walter. I'll undertake her restoration. Expect me in London immediately. I unsay all. I would not yield her up to her uncle, no not for an hour!
Is she returned to her bed, I wonder?—Oh! my moderation is given to the wind!—The time draws near!—I heard the clapping of distant doors.——I cannot write.—I can hardly breathe.
Boyer, they shall neither of them touch her.—I will carry her myself.——I could not bear to see their arms encircle the sweet girl.—I'll enter her chamber first.—Her face they must behold; but, with the same zeal that I would feast mine own senses upon her other charms, will I hide them from the profanation of vulgar eyes.