that I longed, or for your eyes, or for your body; no, it was a
romantic confusion of all of these things, a marvelous mingling of
memories and desires. All the mysteries of caprice in man and woman
seemed to hover about me, when suddenly in my solitude your real
presence and the glowing rapture in your face completely set me afire.
Wit and ecstasy now began their alternating play, and were the common
pulse of our united life. There was no less abandon than religion in
our embrace. I besought you to yield to my frenzy and implored you to
be insatiable. And yet with calm presence of mind I watched for the
slightest sign of joy in you, so that not one should escape me to
impair the harmony. I not only enjoyed, but I felt and enjoyed the
enjoyment.

You are so extraordinarily clever, dearest Lucinda, that you have
doubtless long ere this begun to suspect that this is all nothing but
a beautiful dream. And so, alas, it is; and I should indeed feel very
disconsolate about it if I could not cherish the hope that at least a
part of it may soon be realized. The truth of the matter is this: Not
long ago I was standing by the window--how long I do not know, for
along with the other rules of reason and morality, I completely forgot
about the lapse of time. Well, I was standing by the window and
looking out into the open; the morning certainly deserves to be called
beautiful, the air is still and quite warm, and the verdure here
before me is fresh. And even as the wide land undulates in hills and
dales, so the calm, broad, silvery river winds along in great bends
and sweeps, until it and the lover's fantasy, cradled upon it like the
swan, pass away into the distance and lose themselves in the
immeasurable. My vision doubtless owes the grove and its southern
color-effect to the huge mass of flowers here beside me, among which I
see a large number of oranges. All the rest is readily explained by