Then all at once, without her having said, “I am tired!” or his having said, “That is enough!” the book had fallen on her knees and they gazed into each other’s eyes.
In fact, these two happy beings were nothing but eyes, open, wide open, to drink in all the light that emanated from their souls: eyes moistened with tears which did not fall on their cheeks, but were absorbed as by an invisible sponge which conveyed them to the heart. Had anyone been present he would have heard a double tic-tac in unison, the harmony of two notes, one high and one low, the divine music of two souls who converse without words.
Her eyes were sweet, tender, and very mild; they appeared as if they were dissolving in the dew of paradise. His eyes lightened, were ardent and fiery, drinking in the paradisean ambrosia of her pupils.
Tremour of the frame, contraction of clasped hands, and lightning from their eyes accorded harmoniously with the tic-tac of two hearts bound together; the whole an ecstasy of two existences, which are at one in the pores of the skin, the nerves of the soul, the muscles of the will.
Was it voluptuousness?
No, it was bliss.
Was it lasciviousness?
No, something less than all those; only two lives fused into one.
After a sigh from both a spark darted from those eyes; and from those lips there came at the same moment, as if a signal had been given, these words: