Could this one make him forget the other? Could a new fancy destroy the strong love which bound him and was ruining him? Could a love facile and without risk soothe the hidden mischief and diminish the fury of a dangerous passion? She had all that was required for that, this little fair girl with the tempting lips.
Like Suzanne she was young and charming, like Suzanne she would be loving, and unlike Suzanne, she would be submissive.
Her eyes swimming in their azure, her aquiline nose with its mobile nostrils, her scarlet fleshly lips, her golden hair like ripened corn, her rosy cheeks in which coursed health and life, the slimness of her waist, the delicacy and whiteness of her hand; it all said: Love me.
And she was a fresh woman … a fresh woman, eternal temptation.
When he returned to the hotel, he found the Comtesse anxiously waiting for him.
With a smile she handed a large packet, sealed with the episcopal arms.
It was his nomination to the Curé of St. Marie. He would have to take possession of it immediately.
XCIV.
THE CHANGE.
"Prayer on that day is said within the gothic church,
The old men mourn beneath the ancient oak.
Resisted are the games but just begun.
The village maidens will no longer dance."