“Be generous and spare me, for I am not my own mistress, and have no right to give myself to you; and perhaps, if you were so ungenerous as to attack me, I should not have the strength to resist.”
“I will obey, but I shall still languish. I cannot be unhappy unless I forfeit your favour.”
“I have duties to perform, my dear friend, and I cannot neglect them without becoming contemptible in my own eyes and yours too.”
“I should deem myself the most miserable of men if I despised a woman for making me happy.”
“Well, I like you too well to think you capable of such conduct, but let us be moderate, for we may have to part to-morrow. You must confess that if we yielded to desire, this parting would be all the more bitter. If you are of another opinion, that only shews that your ideas of love and mine are different.”
“Then tell me of what sort of love is that with which I am happy enough to have inspired you?”
“It is of such a kind that enjoyment would only increase it, and yet enjoyment seems to me a mere accident.”
“Then what is its essence?”
“To live together in perfect unity.”
“That’s a blessing we can enjoy from morning to eve, but why should we not add the harmless accident which would take so short a time, and give us such peace and tranquillity. You must confess, Pauline, that the essence cannot exist long without the accident.”