Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 1.djvu/262

184 she tried to persuade herself that the dangers which she vaguely foresaw had no real foundation. That journey, suddenly resolved upon, the change which she had remarked in the conduct of M. de Salligny might strictly be explained by the love which he still bore for Arsène Guillot; but, strange to say! that thought was to her more insupportable than the others, and it was almost a relief to her to demonstrate to her own mind its improbability.

Madame de Piennes spent the entire evening in creating phantoms, destroying them and rereating them again. She did not wish to go to Madame Darsenay's, and, in order to be more sure of herself she allowed her coachman to go out, and resolved to retire at an early hour; but as soon as she had taken that high-minded resolution, and there was no longer a means of retractting [sic] it, she represented to herself that it was a weakness unworthy of her, and repented of it. She feared above all things, that Max would suspect the cause; and as she could not disguise from herself the real motive for staying at home, she already looked upon herself as guilty, for that sole preoccupation concerning M. de Salligny appeared to her a crime. She prayed for a long time, but without being comforted by it. I know not at what hour she succeeded in falling