Page:Marie Corelli - the writer and the woman (IA mariecorelliwrit00coat).pdf/126

 *ing the history of those days long afterwards, Beauvais acknowledges that he was mistaken in changing his attitude towards Guidèl:

"Though first impressions are sometimes erroneous, I believe there is a balance in favor of their correctness. If a singular antipathy seizes you for a particular person at first sight, no matter how foolish it may seem, you may be almost sure that there is something in your two natures that is destined to remain in constant opposition. You may conquer it for a time; it may even change, as it did in my case, to profound affection; but, sooner or later, it will spring up again, with tenfold strength and deadliness; the reason of your first aversion will be made painfully manifest, and the end of it all will be doubly bitter because of the love that for a brief while sweetened it. I say I loved Silvion Guidèl!—and in proportion to the sincerity of that love, I afterwards measured the intensity of my hate!"

The wedding day draws closer, and Beauvais remains blind to everything save his own joy and the bliss which he fondly imagines will result from the union. True, he sometimes notices a certain lack of enthusiasm in Pauline's view of the approaching ceremony, but he attributes this and her wistfulness of expression to "the nervous excitement a young girl would naturally feel at the swift approach of her wedding day." Strangely enough, Guidèl, too, shows signs of physical and mental