Page:A Virgin Heart.pdf/196

192 count of her sensibility. Leonor, astonished by a coldness which he imagined he had overcome for ever, attributed it to a failure of tenderness. He knew that women only palpitate with the men they adore, but he thought that they ought always to palpitate. He did not know how capricious these frail organisms are. He did not know that there are women who, their whole life long, pursue the delirious sensations which they are doomed never to ﬁnd again. He imagined therefore, that he was no longer loved, and he was bitter, for men are readily bitter when their mistress's exaltation is too moderate.

Hortense wept. "Oh, my dream, my beautiful dream!"

Her tenderness had, however, in no way diminished. Leonor had to admit it as he received contritely Hortense's poignant kisses. He asked her pardon, humiliated himself, and for a moment she was happy in the caresses of her lover, but she was still whispering to herself, "Oh, my dream, my beautiful dream!"

After her departure, Leonor coldly informed his landlady that he did not mean to come back; then after a long tedious wait in an inn