pardon of my crime? Wretched Matilda, you have destroyed my
quiet for ever!'

'To me these reproaches, Ambrosio? To me, who have sacrificed
for you the world's pleasures, the luxury of wealth, the delicacy
of sex, my Friends, my fortune, and my fame? What have you lost,
which I preserved? Have _I_ not shared in YOUR guilt? Have YOU
not shared in MY pleasure? Guilt, did I say? In what consists
ours, unless in the opinion of an ill-judging World? Let that
World be ignorant of them, and our joys become divine and
blameless! Unnatural were your vows of Celibacy; Man was not
created for such a state; And were Love a crime, God never would
have made it so sweet, so irresistible! Then banish those clouds
from your brow, my Ambrosio! Indulge in those pleasures freely,
without which life is a worthless gift: Cease to reproach me
with having taught you what is bliss, and feel equal transports
with the Woman who adores you!'

As She spoke, her eyes were filled with a delicious languor. Her
bosom panted: She twined her arms voluptuously round him, drew
him towards her, and glewed her lips to his. Ambrosio again
raged with desire: The die was thrown: His vows were already
broken; He had already committed the crime, and why should He
refrain from enjoying its reward? He clasped her to his breast
with redoubled ardour. No longer repressed by the sense of
shame, He gave a loose to his intemperate appetites. While the
fair Wanton put every invention of lust in practice, every
refinement in the art of pleasure which might heighten the bliss
of her possession, and render her Lover's transports still more
exquisite, Ambrosio rioted in delights till then unknown to him: