XXX

When Resistance Is Only a Pretense


I was delighted to learn before my departure for the country, that
your mind was more at rest. I feel free to say, that if the Countess
had persevered in treating you with the same severity, I should have
suspected, not that she was insensible to your love, but that you had
a fortunate rival. The resistance manifested by her would have been
beyond her strength in a single combat. For you should be well
advised, Marquis, that a woman is never more intractable than when she
assumes a haughtiness toward all other men, for the sake of her
favorite lover.

I see in everything you have told me, proofs that you are loved, and
that you are the only one. I will be able to give you constant news on
that score, for I am going to investigate the Countess for myself.
This will surprise you, no doubt. Your astonishment will cease,
however, when you call to mind that Madame de la Sablière's house,
where I am going to spend a week, adjoins the grounds of your amiable
widow. You told me that she was at home, and, add to the neighborhood,
the unmeasured longing I have to make her acquaintance, you will not
be surprised at the promise I have just made you.

I have not the time to finish this letter, nor the opportunity to