the first thought or gesture that shall seem to be inconsistent with the
most profound respect, shall be the signal for the closing of your door;
as I have been silent in the past, I will be silent in the future, You
think that I have loved you for a month, when in fact I have loved you
from the first day I met you. When you discovered it, you did not refuse
to see me on that account. If you had at that time enough esteem for me
to believe me incapable of offending you, why have you lost that esteem?

"That is what I have come to ask you. What have I done? I have bent my
knee, but I have not said a word. What have I told you? What you
already knew. I have been weak because I have suffered. It is true,
Madame, that I am twenty years of age and what I have seen of life has
only disgusted me (I could use a stronger word); it is true that there is
not at this hour on earth, either in the society of men or in solitude,
a place, however small and insignificant, that I care to occupy.

"The space enclosed within the four walls of your garden is the only spot
in the world where I live; you are the only human being who has made me
love God. I had renounced everything before I knew you; why deprive me
of the only ray of light that Providence has spared me? If it is on
account of fear, what have I done to inspire it? If it is on account of
dislike, in what respect am I culpable? If it is on account of pity and
because I suffer, you are mistaken in supposing that I can cure myself;
it might have been done, perhaps, two months ago; but I preferred to see
you and to suffer, and I do not repent, whatever may come of it. The
only misfortune that can reach me is to lose you. Put me to the proof.
If I ever feel that there is too much suffering for me in our bargain I
will go away; and you may be sure of it, since you send me away to-day,
and I am ready to go. What risk do you run in giving me a month or two
of the only happiness I shall ever know?"