Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/249

Rh (and unfortunately she could not doubt but it was near) would doubtless carry a decisive blow. It was with such a hope that she suddenly deter- mined to permit Max to see Arsène. She also gained an excuse for postponing the exhortation which she had planned; for I think that I have already said to you that in spite of her keen desire to save a man whose errors she deplored, she shrank involuntarily from the thought of engaging with him in so serious a discussion.

She had counted much upon the goodness of her cause; still she doubted of her success, and to fail was to despair of the salvation of Max, it was to condemn herself to a change of sentiment concerning him. The devil, perhaps, to prevent her from guarding herself against the warm affection which she bore for a friend of childhood, the devil had taken pains to justify that affection upon the strength of a Christian hope. All weapons are acceptable to the Tempter, and such practices are familiar to him; that is why the Portuguese say quite elegantly: "De boâs intençôes esta a inferno cheio": "Hell is paved with good intentions." You say in French that it is paved with women's tongues, and that amounts to the same thing; for women, in my opinion, always mean well.

You recall me to my story. The following