suffer; I should drive him wild. But even if you do not want me,
or you are going out, let me come, all the same, to be with you
while you dress; only to see you, I ask no more than that; only to
show you that I love you without a thought of self.

"'Since you gave me leave to love you, for you gave me leave,
since I am yours; since that day I loved and love you with the
whole strength of my soul; and I shall love you for ever, for once
having loved _you_, no one could, no one ought to love another.
And, you see, when those eyes that ask nothing but to see you are
upon you, you will feel that in your Claudine there is a something
divine, called into existence by you.

"'Alas! with you I can never play the coquette. I am like a
mother with her child; I endure anything from you; I, that was
once so imperious and proud. I have made dukes and princes fetch
and carry for me; aides-de-camp, worth more than all the court of
Charles X. put together, have done my errands, yet I am treating
you as my spoilt child. But where is the use of coquetry? It would
be pure waste. And yet, monsieur, for want of coquetry I shall
never inspire love in you. I know it; I feel it; yet I do as
before, feeling a power that I cannot withstand, thinking that
this utter self-surrender will win me the sentiment innate in all
men (so _he_ tells me) for the thing that belongs to them.


"_Wednesday_.

"'Ah! how darkly sadness entered my heart yesterday when I found
that I must give up the joy of seeing you. One single thought held